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RULES FOR TRAVELING: Today, the EU and EEA countries have very different advice on whether you should be quarantined if you travel here, to Barcelona. The EU has adopted a recommendation for common travel rules that everyone should have, but Norway is just introducing any of that. Photo: PAU BARRENA / AFP
Norway will not follow the EU recommendation to reintroduce green countries and will have its own travel tips for different regions of Spain. But the boundary of what a red country is now is changing a bit.
That all countries in Europe have different rules about when you should be quarantined and where you can travel, the EU would like to end. Therefore, this autumn they adopted a recommendation for common standards.
Now the Norwegian government has decided whether to follow them.
The bottom line is that they do almost nothing that the EU recommends. All Norway is doing is introducing a slightly softer border for what is a red country.
For those of you who want to travel, the only consequence, as per the VG travel tips overview, is that two regions of Finland that were previously at the red infection level now turn yellow. You still need to be in quarantine practically wherever you travel.
– There will be no major changes, confirms Health Minister Bent Høie to VG.
Norway says no to this
- Without green areas: The EU recommends introducing green regions where you can travel freely, without being in quarantine. Norway says no to this.
- Just a tip for Spain: The EU believes that Norway should have travel advice for the different regions of Europe, not just for countries. So if the infection increases in Madrid, only Madrid is stained red, not all of Spain. But the government will not do this now. It is still only Denmark, Sweden and Finland where you can get your own advice at the regional or county level.
If Norway had done what the EU wants, the travel map would have looked like this:
– Due to the infection situation, we believe that we cannot make those changes now, says Health Minister Bent Høie to VG.
- So what is being changed? Now a region or country turns red if (1) have more than 20 infected per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days or (2) or more than five percentage of positive tests. Soon the red countries and areas will be the ones with (1) over 25 infected per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days or (2) or on fire percentage of positive tests.
- What does it mean in practice: Almost nothing. In theory, it will be a bit more difficult to become a red country or area, but the infection in Europe is so high now that most of it remains red anyway. And you still have to be quarantined if you come from a red country.
Here you can see how the changes affect:
I don’t want anything green on the map
Norway stopped using green countries earlier this year, when the government wanted to point out that there is no “green light” to travel abroad. But the EU wants green regions where it can travel freely, without restrictions and without ending up in quarantine.
– We will not introduce the color green again, says Health Minister Bent Høie.
– We will continue to operate with red and yellow countries, because we have a general recommendation to avoid traveling abroad, says the Minister of Health.
– An important principle for the EU, as they pointed out when they recommended this, is free movement within the EU and the EEA. And they wanted green regions where you could travel without restrictions and without being quarantined. If we had introduced it now, hardly any region would have turned green. But don’t you want to do it yet?
– The infection situation in Europe does not indicate it. When we have a recommendation to avoid unnecessary trips abroad, the population could be misinterpreted if we began to define areas in Europe as green, responds the Minister of Health.
It will not be a council for Barcelona and another for Alicante
However, the biggest change for those wishing to travel would have been if Norway had followed the EU recommendation to give each region of Europe its own color. As we do today for Sweden, Denmark and Finland.
But Norway will continue as before, for the time being.
– I do not rule out that we move to regional evaluations for other countries at a later date, says the Minister of Health.
NO MAJOR CHANGES: The government has considered whether Norway should change the travel and quarantine rules, following a recommendation from the EU. But there will be no major changes. Photo: Ørn E. Borgen
– We do not disdain that. However, if we are to introduce regional assessments for countries other than the Nordic countries, we must have more confidence in the information we receive in this area from the European Infection Control Agency. And take a look at how other countries in Europe relate to the recommendation, says the Minister of Health.
Overview of the new VG: Compare infections in Oslo, Madrid and western Norway
Where can I travel without quarantine? Follow VG’s travel tips overview
Believe in understanding the EU system
– What kind of reactions will Norway face in the EU system when you just follow any of the recommendations that have come here?
– I think that in the EU there will be a great understanding of the decisions Norway is making now, based on the current situation, says Health Minister Bent Høie.
When the European Commission first proposed common travel rules, it proposed a rather drastic opening for travel. But before the EU recommendation was adopted, the proposal was watered down.
– We saw that in working with these council recommendations, there was growing support for the starting point that Norway had. The EU started at a completely different level than it ended. Since the council’s recommendation was completed, the infection situation has worsened and the risk of infection from importation has increased significantly, Høie says.
