• Coronavirus Usa, the Secretary of Health: "The window to check it is closing"
  • Pence: "Use reopen safely and responsibly." Fauci immediately after: "The situation is serious"
  • EU, Borrell: external borders reopening from 1st July. Germany: stop checks from 16 June
  • EU, from 15 June stop checks at internal borders
  • EU, Conte and Sanchez to von der Leyen: "Reopening of borders as soon as possible, be coordinated"

Share

June 30, 2020

The European Union will reopen its external borders to 15 third countries starting tomorrow, with the scheduled updating of the list every two weeks. The governments of the 27 have in fact approved a list of countries whose epidemiological situation linked to Covid-19 is considered sufficiently safe. However, responsibility for reopening borders remains in the hands of each Member State and that of Brussels is only a guideline and not legally binding. Italy voted in favor, while according to some sources Sweden and Poland would have abstained.

These are Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay and China (the latter subject to reciprocity). The United States is off the list. According to Brussels, the citizens of Brazil, Russia, India, Turkey and Israel will not be able to reach Europe. The United Kingdom was not affected by the travel restrictions decided by the EU in March.

Residents of Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican, according to the recommendation adopted by the Council, are considered to be residents of the EU. 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.

Regarding the epidemiological situation, the third countries listed should meet the following criteria: number of new COVID-19 cases in the last 14 days and per 100,000 inhabitants close to or below the EU average, stable or decreasing trend of new cases in this period compared to the previous 14 days, global response to COVID-19 taking into account the information available, including aspects such as testing, surveillance, contact traceability, containment, treatment and reliability of the information. Reciprocity should also be taken into account regularly and on a case-by-case basis.

For countries where travel restrictions continue to apply, EU citizens and their family members, long-term EU residents and their family members travelers with an essential function or need will be exempted. Finally, the Council states that the 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 listed countries. However, the 27 agreed that a Member State should not decide to lift travel restrictions for non-listed third countries before this has been decided in a coordinated way. The list should be reviewed every two weeks and may be updated by the Council, as appropriate, after close consultation with the Commission and relevant EU agencies and services following a comprehensive assessment based on the above criteria. 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.

Coldiretti: borders closed to 1.4 million US tourists in Italy
The European Union closes the borders to 1.4 million US tourists traveling during the summer in Italy where foreigners are most present, among those coming from outside the community borders. This is what emerges from an analysis by Coldiretti on Bankitalia data on the effects of the reopening of European borders without quarantine obligation from 1 July to a limited group of countries such as Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda , Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay while reciprocity is a necessary condition for China to enter the list of safe trips that will be reviewed every 14 days.

"Four hundred thousand summer tourists from Italy to Russia are also excluded from the list that represents a recommendation for the Member States - Coldiretti underlines - while the reopening of European borders to the fifteen countries is positive, including in particular the almost half a million of travelers from Canada and the 120 thousand Japanese citizens who visited Italy during the summer last year ".

"The loss of US tourists - Coldiretti continues - is particularly heavy because they have a high budget with a total summer expenditure of 1.8 billion in Italy, equal to almost 1/3 (29%) of the total total expenditure of non-EU citizens in the Peninsula during the months of July, August and September ". "The preferred destinations are the cities of art that will suffer most notably from their lack, but - the association specifies - the Americans also pay particular attention to the quality of the food for which they allocate a high share of spending during the holiday. The effects they will also make themselves felt by the loss of the positive leverage of tourism on national exports with tourists who, on returning home, look for the products tasted during the trip on the shelves ".

"There is no lack of worries about the effects that the European Union's decision could have on the ongoing trade war with the United States with President Donald Trump who - Coldiretti recalls - has just published the definitive list of products and European countries under examination for new duties that affect Italy 2/3 of the value of agri-food exports and extends, among other things, wine, oil and pasta Made in Italy in addition to the cheeses and cured meats that have already been affected ".

With arrivals from EU countries that are still very small, the vacuum of foreign tourists is not compensated by domestic tourism - the association reports - with just 34 million Italians who have decided to go on vacation for at least a few days in summer 2020 , down 13% according to the Coldiretti / Ixè analysis, which however shows that Italy is by far the preferred destination for 93% of Italians compared to 86 %% last year.

"At risk there is a Made in Italy tourism system which is made up of 612 thousand companies with over 700 thousand local units and represents - concludes Coldiretti - 10.1% of the national production system, exceeding the manufacturing sector, with 2.7 million of workers, 12.6% of national employment according to Unioncamere ".