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reAccording to the EU Commission, the summer holidays do not necessarily have to be canceled due to the Corona crisis. “We will definitely have a tourist season in the summer, but with security measures and restrictions,” said EU economic commissioner Paolo Gentiloni of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. This Wednesday, the Brussels authorities are presenting recommendations to the EU states on how it could work, without causing a sharp increase in crown infections.
According to a draft decision, the restrictions should initially be abolished in areas where there is a comparably favorable development in the number of crown cases on both sides of the border. According to the information, there should be no discrimination based on the nationality of the travelers. The Commission also intends to adopt a series of guidelines and recommendations for protection movements during tourism and travel. This includes safety distances in hotels, restaurants, and transportation, such as trains and planes.
In the run-up to the Commission’s deliberations, a group of conservative MEPs called on their President Ursula von der Leyen to campaign for the swift reopening of borders within the EU. The 18 members of the PPE Group in the European Parliament wrote in a letter to von der Leyen that controls at all borders between Member States should stop after next Friday.
MPs also demanded that EU member states lift their quarantine arrangements for incoming EU citizens. In the early stages of the pandemic, border controls were “appropriate and justified” due to the wide variation in the virus across states, according to the letter. Meanwhile, however, the infection process is at a similar level across the EU. “What is essentially the same should not be treated in a substantially different way,” the MPs emphasize. For this reason, relaxation of crown restrictions within member states should go hand in hand with “comparable external flexibility at the borders”.
In Germany it had federal ministers of the interior Horst Seehofer (CSU) ordered the extension of border controls to Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg and Denmark last week. However, your order is limited until next Friday. In recent days, demands on Seehofer to loosen or lift border controls after Friday have increased.
Alpine countries want to end controls from June
The governments of Austria and Switzerland expect a breakthrough in the debate on opening borders in the near future. “We are in a very good exchange with the Swiss government. It is our goal that we can agree on significant relaxation in the coming days and complete the border controls entirely in June, “Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) told Swiss television SRF on Tuesday.
Talks with Germany would also go well. However, Bavaria slows down the issue compared to Austria and Switzerland, Kurz said. A spokesperson for Swiss Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter told the Keystone-SDA news agency that summer vacations in Germany, Austria and France would be more likely for the Swiss. According to the agency, an opening of the Swiss border to Italy is not yet planned.