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The EU Commission will present its recommendations on Wednesday. Merkel plans a “two-stage process”.
The number of infections is decreasing, initial restrictions have already been relaxed in many European countries; Now, according to the EU Commission, the next step must be taken: the cautious opening of borders within the Union. Brussels authorities want to present recommendations on Wednesday. “As the health situation gradually improves, considerations should shift towards unrestricted freedom of movement for people,” says a draft of the document, quoted by the media. The Commission advocates a flexible, phased plan to phase out border controls.
In Brussels’ view, it is important that EU countries act in concert. Delaying the opening of borders, on the other hand, “would not only put a heavy burden on the functioning of the internal market, but also on the lives of millions of EU citizens who are denied the benefits of free movement”, says the eraser. The authority is also thinking about the battered tourism industry.
The recommendations, which are not binding, stipulate that controls be relaxed first in regions where infection numbers on both sides of the border are comparable. The agency had already announced such an approach in its crown exit strategy in mid-April. Furthermore, it is “of utmost importance” that there is sufficient evidence available, as well as hospital capabilities. Furthermore, the chains of infection would have to be followed closely.
Merkel promises gradual opening
The Austrian Minister of Tourism was satisfied. “In this way, the EU follows our arguments that we have been making for weeks to gradually regain freedom of travel,” explained Elisabeth Köstinger (ÖVP). He had recently called for several border openings to those countries “which are as successful in fighting the crown virus as Austria.” Chancellor Sebastián Kurz (ÖVP) had also pressured him, and probably first of all he thought about Germany.
In the neighboring country, pressure on the Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) has recently increased to open borders quickly. The top CDU chancellor also pushed for it, with the restriction that applicable safety standards must be maintained. On Tuesday night, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the gradual opening of the border to neighboring countries: there will be a two-stage process in many places, she said, according to German media. It is important to her that the checks do not continue “until the end of the year”. Seehofer wants to comment on it until Friday.
Even stricter measures in Spain
Germany’s main epidemic, the Robert Koch Institute, also considers border openings to be justifiable if the infection in the neighboring country is similar. And North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) is shaking off the mandatory 14-day quarantine for returnees, which is no longer the case in Lower Saxony.
The superior regional court revoked it. German borders remain tight until May 15. Another date is just as important to the tourism industry in Austria: a world travel warning applies to Germans until June 14. Spain has announced stricter measures: as of Friday, people arriving from abroad must remain in quarantine for 14 days. Until now, such a rule only existed in certain cases, for example for people who came from Italy.
