Moselle is one of the departments currently most affected by the pandemic in France.
Not enough to reassure border Germany therefore, which, according to local media, plans to strengthen its warnings related to Covid-19 from Monday by classifying it at risk.
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During a meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel, the executive must look into the precautionary measures at the German borders in order to fight against the spread of contamination and could classify the Moselle as a "high incidence zone", or even as a "Area affected by variants of the virus," says the regional press group Funke.
So far, this department, like all the French metropolitan territory, is classified a notch below in the German scale of risks, in simple “zone at risk”.
However, Moselle has one of the highest incidence rates among the French departments, at around 283 infections per 100,000 inhabitants, against 175 for the Grand Est region and 190 nationally.
Germany has a significantly lower national average of around 60.
Mandatory PCR test and partially closed borders?
If the German government moves this French department to a high-risk zone, Berlin could in theory require anyone entering its territory from Moselle to present negative tests for Covid-19 dating from 48 hours maximum.
It could also close the borders, at least partially, as Germany has done with the Czech Republic and the Austrian region of Tyrol.
But the German authorities in Saarland, a border region between the Moselle and Luxembourg, intend to renounce as far as possible the introduction of border controls, in order to avoid the tensions that had arisen between the two countries during similar measures. in spring 2020. During a meeting this week with the French region of the Grand Est, it was agreed to avoid such controls as far as possible, said the head of the regional government of Saarland, Tobias Hans.
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“Our response to this common challenge of the pandemic is European and intends to promote cohesion rather than separation,” he said, quoted on his website, which nevertheless underlines that “the situation in Moselle is tense”.
The Saarland plans to make 100,000 rapid Covid-19 screening tests available to companies in its territory that can be used, on a voluntary basis, in particular by French border workers.
In addition, the Saar and the French authorities want to set up a Franco-German test center allowing border crossers on both sides to be tested.