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Many Germans currently plan their summer vacation at home. But what about the tourism season in Europe? The EU Commission wants to present its recommendations on opening borders today.
EU Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni has shown his confidence that the European holiday season can take place in the summer despite the Corona pandemic. “We will definitely have a tourist season in the summer, but with security measures and restrictions,” the Italian told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung.”
This Wednesday, the EU Commission wants to publish recommendations for the gradual lifting of border controls. 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.
MEPs call for speedy reopening of borders
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. Controls at all borders between member states should stop after next Friday, the 18 members of the PPE Group in the European Parliament said in a letter to von der Leyen, which was available to the AFP news agency.
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.
Seehofer has extended border controls until Friday
“What is essentially the same should not be treated in a substantially different way,” the MPs emphasize. Therefore, loosening of crown restrictions within member states must 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.
