The European Union reopens borders, ok to 15 countries

The European Union will reopen its external borders to 15 third countries, including China, but on condition of reciprocity. The United States is off the list. This was learned in Brussels after the member countries voted for the recommendations and the list. Italy voted in favor. 

Today the Council adopted a recommendation on the phasing out of temporary restrictions on non-essential travel to the EU. The list includes 15 countries: Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay and China, subject to confirmation of reciprocity. The list will be updated every two weeks. The residents of Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican should be considered residents of the EU for the purposes of this recommendation, reads the note.

The criteria for determining the third countries for which the current travel restriction should be lifted concern in particular the epidemiological situation and containment measures, including physical distances, as well as economic and social considerations and are applied cumulatively. Regarding the epidemiological situation, the third countries listed should meet some criteria: a number of new Covid-19 cases in the last 14 days per 100,000 inhabitants close to or below the EU average (as it was on June 15, 2020) ; stable or decreasing trend of new cases in this period compared to the previous 14 days; of the global response to Covid-19 taking into account the available information, including aspects such as testing, surveillance, contact traceability, containment, processing and communication, as well as the reliability of the information.

The Council recommendation is not a legally binding instrument. Member State authorities remain responsible for the implementation of the content of the recommendation. They can, in full transparency, only gradually remove travel restrictions to the countries listed, the note specifies. A Member State should not decide to lift travel restrictions for non-listed third countries before this is decided in a coordinated way. Travel restrictions can be lifted or reintroduced in whole or in part for a specific third country already listed on the basis of changes in some conditions and, consequently, in the assessment of the epidemiological situation. If the situation in a listed third country deteriorates rapidly, rapid decision-making is needed.