Spanish police control the border with France, March 17, 2020. - GAIZKA IROZ / AFP

Cacophony on dates in Spain. The country will reopen its land borders with France and Portugal on July 1, we learned this Thursday from the Ministry of Tourism, and not on June 22 as indicated by the holder of the ministry earlier.

"We maintain the date of July 1 for the resumption of international mobility and the reopening to international tourism," said a spokesman for the ministry. The Minister of Tourism Reyes Maroto had however cited the date of June 22 Thursday morning during a meeting with the international press.

A statement, then a clarification

"In the case of France and Portugal, I wanted to confirm that from June 22 the restrictions on land mobility will be eliminated", she explained, stressing that "in principle (...) quarantines will be eliminated " "This is very important because it will allow us to recover a large volume of tourists, French and Portuguese," she said.

A few hours after these statements, the ministry issued a clarification to indicate that mobility "within Spanish territory" would be restored once the alert was lifted on June 21. But that international mobility would resume for its part "from July 1".

In Portugal, we say “surprised”

These declarations also made teeth cringe in Portugal whose government asked for "clarifications" to the Spanish government. "We were surprised by the statements" of the Spanish minister, said Foreign Affairs Minister Lusa Augusto Santos Silva.

"It is Portugal which obviously decides to reopen the Portuguese border and Portugal wants to do so in a coordinated manner with" Spain, he added, stressing that "unfortunately, the declarations of the ministers of Spanish government succeed one another and do not form part of a close coordination ”.

Spain, which established one of the strictest confinements in the world on March 14, had closed its land borders with France and Portugal on the 17th. Since May 15, the country has also limited entry by air or maritime to Spaniards, residents in Spain and other specific cases and imposed a quarantine, still in force until July 1.

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