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The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, issued the warning after a four-hour video meeting with the heads of government of the 27 EU countries to discuss the response to the second wave of the pandemic.
This warning was prompted by concerns about the spread of new highly contagious coronavirus strains, which could lead to new spikes in morbidity and hospital influxes, as is the case in a former EU member state in the UK.
“We should be encouraged to refrain from any unnecessary travel, both in and out of the country,” von der Leyen told a news conference.
Michel, for his part, said: “It will probably be necessary to take additional restrictive measures to limit unnecessary travel, that is the direction in which we are moving.”
Both added that there will be greater coordination on this issue in the “coming days.”
But von der Leyen and Michel also said the EU wanted to avoid a situation last year, during the peak of the first wave, where several member states closed their borders unilaterally in panic, causing economic and travel chaos.
“Reuters” / “Scanpix” nuotr./Ursula von der Leyen
“It is vital to make the single market work”, so that workers and goods can continue to cross borders, said the head of the European Commission.
The European Union is “an epidemiological zone,” he said.
“We will stop the spread of the virus only through specific measures, and not unnecessary measures such as the total closure of the borders, which would cause great damage to our economy but, in principle, would not help to control the virus”, von der Leyen. said.
The leaders agreed that more evidence was needed to prevent the closure of the EU’s internal borders in the Schengen area, where people and goods can move freely without controls.
Starting Sunday, all people coming to the Community from outside the country will be required to take a COVID-19 test prior to travel, von der Leyen said. Entry to the EU is only allowed for serious reasons.
Within the EU, some countries will pretest for the coronavirus to cross-border travel outside of essential categories, such as worker and truck driver travel.
As of Sunday, France will require that the majority of arriving Europeans whose trips do not fall into the essential categories have them before 72 hours. he reportedly underwent a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test before the trip and that his answer was negative, the country’s president, Emmanuel Macron, told the European Council.
A report released by Macron’s office said that the leaders of some other EU countries had also decided to do the same.
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