Coronavirus: no more obligation of compelling reasons for French people returning from abroad
Red Cross staff checking that arrivals from abroad have performed a PCR test on February 13 at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle.
AFP - BERTRAND GUAY
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
The Council of State rejects the ban which was made to the French living outside the European Union to return to their country unless there is a compelling reason.
These French people living abroad had to prove the death, serious illness of a loved one or an unavoidable professional trip in order to be able to return to the territory.
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This measure was taken by the government in order to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
The Council of State considered this provision disproportionate.
The decision greeted with relief by Charlotte, a Frenchwoman who lives in Washington.
►Also read: Closure of French borders: who can enter, who cannot
“
We feel relieved anyway because it seemed a little crazy to us that our country would forbid us to come back unless we had a dying parent or a job interview.
In the United States in any case, all the people I see on social networks were very shocked by this decision and its limits to the reasons for coming to France as French, we even thought it was illegal in fact
” , she said, at the microphone
of our correspondent in Washington,
Anne Corpet.
Petition launched in February
A petition was launched last month, in particular by the Collectif des Français d'Amérique du Nord and a dozen representatives of French people living abroad, to contest this measure.
"
There are a lot of things to put in place before to be sure that the virus does not spread
: PCR tests, quarantines ... And there, we did not understand very well since indeed, it affects relatively few people,
”Judge Charlotte.
Having just had a baby, she felt
"quite sad" that she
couldn't introduce him quickly to family and friends.
"We are relieved to see that we will be able to bring this little baby to France, present it to our loved ones and not feel treated
differently from the French who live in Europe or in France," she
assures us.
Obligation maintained for the Antilles
On the other hand, the Council of State maintains this obligation to have a compelling reason for travel from or to the French Antilles, considering that "
it is justified by the desire to avoid the flow of tourists which would risk aggravating the health situation on site
”.
Since January 31, travelers from a country outside the European Union were banned from entering France, including the French.
They could only enter the territory if they could assert a "
compelling
"
family, health or professional reason
.
On Thursday March 11, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs relaxed certain measures for travel to and towards seven countries outside the European Union, including Great Britain, given the already very heavy traffic of the British variant of Covid-19.
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