Brussels proposes a common color code to end travel chaos in the Schengen zone

The president of the Commission, Von Der Leyen, during a press conference in Brussels last week.FRANCOIS WALSCHAERTS / POOL / EFE

Brussels assumes the task of putting order in the border chaos of pandemic Europe, plagued by black lists and red zones decided unilaterally by the capitals.

With the Twenty-seven exchanging quarantines to travelers and pointing out, each one on her own and according to her criteria, the seriousness of the epidemiological situation of her neighbors, the European Commission has presented this Friday a proposal to reach a common position, which.

The initiative has four points: defining the criteria for the Member States to introduce restrictions, the weekly update of a color-coded map showing the red, orange and green zones, protocols for travelers from high-risk destinations, and clear and timely information on the measures taken.

Before imposing the restrictions, the Community Executive proposes that the Member States do not focus only on one guideline, as has happened on many occasions.

Instead, it calls them to review three statistics: the cases reported per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days, the percentage of positive tests in the area in the last week, and the number of tests carried out taking into account the population.

Brussels will place in green the areas with less than 25 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days and a percentage of positive tests less than 3%.

In orange, there will be those that report less than 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants but exceed 3% of positive tests, or those that detect between 25 and 150 per 100,000 inhabitants, but do not exceed that percentage threshold.

And in red, those with more than 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and 3% positive in tests, or with more than 150 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

According to these criteria, Spain, the European country with the most cases reported in the last two weeks per inhabitants with 235.6, would clearly be in the red zone.

The Commission is in no way in favor of closing borders, and instead advises tests and quarantines.

For those travelers who come from green areas, Brussels asks that no restrictions be imposed, in the case of oranges it only demands that the test or quarantine be recommended but without making it mandatory, while for red ones it does grant the possibility of that the mandatory controls are extreme, of course, provided that the same restrictions are applied to all red zones, including those established within their own country.

In addition, it includes an extra category, the gray one, for when the country does not provide enough information or performs few tests.

The Commission is thus making a desperate attempt to save freedom of movement in the Schengen area.

"Our right to move freely in the EU has been severely impacted by the pandemic", has recognized the Commissioner for Justice, the Belgian Didier Reynders "The cacophony of national rules is overwhelming," he added.

The Schengen area has experienced the crisis the first closure of borders for health reasons.

And Brussels admits that "confusion" has been generated for citizens about where they can and cannot travel.

The way is simplification.

“Tests should be the preferred option to facilitate travel.

And here, too, the rules for the red, orange or green zones must be unmistakable ”, asked the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

Between two waters

The ball now travels to the court of the national governments, which will have to decide whether to agree to transfer the classification of risk areas to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), which is in charge of preparing the color map.

Foreign ministries have the last word on border management.

And there Europe sails between two waters.

On the one hand, the formula of the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, the champion of fortress Europe against immigration, whose response to the virus is the same as for refugees.

This Tuesday it closed the borders to all the countries of the Schengen area except Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic without officially communicating it to the rest, thus ignoring the recommendations of Brussels.

The European Commission responded by sending Budapest a letter asking it to back down and not discriminate against citizens because of their nationality.

An attempt in vain, which Orbán despised this Thursday with his usual nationalist rhetoric.

He assured that the "Brussels bureaucrats" will copy his model "shortly" to control the virus.

The antithesis to the bolt route has come through the Franco-German push to harmonize restrictions.

March's long truck lines had their aftershock this summer, with images of tourists rushing back to their countries to dodge quarantines.

The feeling that the EU is incapable of learning from its mistakes hangs over the air.

And in this context, Brussels has chosen not to wait any longer to launch the umpteenth call for coordination.

The mood was expressed by the French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clemente Beaune.

"Today there are travel restrictions that create confusion."

The discussions are not easy.

Some recommendations of the Commission are considered by the capitals as too ambitious, and the vision on the application of tests and quarantines is far from being unitary, so the final text could be lowered.

The passage of Brussels drinks from an initiative of Germany, the country that holds the rotating presidency of the EU.

Berlin released a short document a few days ago, only two pages long, with several essential points to avoid a fragmented response.

In it, he claimed to use the same data to make decisions - now some pay attention to national and other regional infection figures, or observe the incidence rate while those next door review the number of tests performed.

Implement a common classification of risk areas that avoids, for example, that for some Paris is a red zone and for others orange.

Unify the duration of quarantines - which range between 10 and 14 days - and the time to carry out tests - before or after entering the country.

And finally, conveniently inform of the restrictive measures that are taken.

Information about the coronavirus

- Here you can follow the last hour on the evolution of the pandemic

- This is how the coronavirus curve evolves in Spain and in each autonomy

- Download the tracking application for Spain

- Search engine: The new normal by municipalities

- Guide to action against the disease