Angela Merkel, March 25, 2021 in Berlin.

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Action Press // SIPA

“Reinforced random checks” of tests imposed by Germany will be set up at the French border, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced on Friday.

Germany said Thursday evening that it would classify France in a high-risk zone in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to restrictions on entry into its territory.

“When looking at incidence rates it is simply a necessity (…) a practically automatic process,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a press conference in Berlin as part of a EU videoconference summit dedicated to the fight against Covid-19.

“This is not a political decision here but we see the evolution of the incidence rate, and when this rate - as is the case here - exceeds the threshold of 200 for a long time, then this leads to a classification in high-risk area, ”she added.

Traffic restrictions

This decision should be announced this Friday by the national health watch institute RKI, according to the daily FAZ.

The incidence rates, which measure the number of infections per 100,000 inhabitants over the last 7 days, exceed this threshold of 200 in many French departments. It stood Thursday in Germany at 113.3 on a national average.

So far, only the Moselle department has been classified by Germany as a high-risk zone.

Such a measure entails significant movement restrictions, ranging from the obligation to present a negative test on entry into German territory, to quarantine in Germany for 10 days, or even to the imposition of strict controls on borders.

Such controls have been put in place by Germany most recently with Poland and before that with the Czech Republic and the Austrian Tyrol.

Jean-Yves le Drian confirmed that travelers arriving from France would be subject to reinforced controls: "This means more reinforced random health controls than what existed until now, with compulsory tests and quarantine advised", he added. -He specifies.

Flexibility for the Moselle

On the other hand, for Moselle, the border department of the German regions of Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate, the two countries have agreed on a more flexible system of random checks and antigenic tests for border workers.

And Angela Merkel hinted that France could benefit from this preferential treatment, and avoid strict border controls, if its territory is well classified as a risk zone in its entirety.

“There is a whole specific test procedure (…) which is being discussed with France,” she said.

The French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, "is negotiating the easing of the terms (of such a decision) to avoid the border being closed", we also learned Thursday evening in his entourage in Paris .

Concern on both sides of the border is growing nonetheless.

French and German deputies asked at the same time Thursday to "convene as quickly as possible (...) an extraordinary meeting of the Franco-German Committee for Cross-Border Cooperation" in the face of the tightening in view of "restrictive rules in cross-border living areas between France and Germany ”.

France is experiencing a third wave of Covid-19, linked to a rapid spread of variants.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex called on Thursday to "stick together more than ever" in the face of this "extremely strong" third wave, citing an "extremely worrying" situation, especially in Île-de-France.

The incidence rate there now exceeds 600 per 100,000 inhabitants.

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