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Europe is preparing to reopen its borders with the rest of the world from July 1: the 27 agreed at a meeting of ambassadors of EU countries and the Schengen area on Friday evening , on a list of countries with which air links will be able to resume. This summer, you can therefore fly to Australia or Morocco if you wish. However, to visit the United States or Brazil, you will have to wait.
14 countries on all continents
They are fourteen countries spread over all the continents. In five days, non-essential trips will be able to resume with Australia and New Zealand for Oceania, Uruguay and Canada for the American continent, Japan, South Korea and Thailand in Asia, Rwanda, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia in Africa, as well as with Serbia, Montenegro and Georgia in Europe. Travelers from Andorra, Monaco, the Vatican and San Marino are also admitted.
China is optional on this list, subject to reciprocity, that is to say if it also agrees to let Europeans in. Several Member States, however, considered the reliability of epidemiological data supplied by third countries, in particular China, to be "problematic".
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Strict health criteria, the United States excluded
The 27 actually chose countries where the epidemiological situation is better or similar to theirs, with several criteria for a country to be on the admitted list, in particular a rate of new cases of Covid-19 close to or below 16 per 100,000 population (EU average) over the past 14 days. But also a tendency for stability or a decrease in new cases, as well as the measures put in place by a country to fight against the pandemic, including the practice of tests.
Unsurprisingly, the Americans will therefore have to wait because the epidemic is not under control, in terms of number of deaths as of cases, with 124,732 deaths for 2.4 million cases. No more than Brazil or Russia, which have also been excluded from the list.
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A list updated every two weeks
The list has yet to be officially validated by the capitals, which have until 6 p.m. GMT on Saturday to give an answer, according to several European sources, after which the Croatian Presidency of the EU will decide what to do. The list will then be updated every two weeks.
If border control remains a competence of each State, the EU is trying to coordinate as much as possible on the question of travelers to authorize on its soil, because of the free movement which resumes in the Schengen area, with the lifting of the restrictions decided to fight against the coronavirus.
Non-essential travel to the EU has been banned since mid-March. Some tourist countries are eager to reopen without delay. Greece, for its part, began on June 15 to reopen its airports to several non-EU countries, including China, New Zealand and South Korea. "We urge that an agreement be reached quickly," Spanish government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero said today.