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Following the discovery of the new coronavirus strain detected in southern England, many EU member states, including Portugal, have reintroduced restrictions on ties with the UK, including closing borders.
Today, the European Commission has adopted a recommendation to have a common and harmonized approach among the 27 that guarantees the continuity of the transport of goods and allows the transit of citizens to their countries of origin or residence.
“While it is important to take temporary preventive measures quickly to limit the spread of the new strain of virus and all non-essential travel to and from the UK should be discouraged, essential passenger travel and transit should be facilitated. The bans on flights and rail connections must be lifted, given the need to guarantee essential trips and avoid interruptions in the supply chain ”, defends Brussels.
Recalling that the free movement rules continue to apply in the United Kingdom until December 31, the date on which the so-called ‘transitional period’ of ‘Brexit’ expires, the Commission notes that “this means that, in principle, Member States they must not deny entry to people in transit from the UK ”.
To that extent, the community executive recommends that the 27, in light of the current epidemiological situation in the United Kingdom, continue to discourage all travel to and from that territory until further notice, but maintains that “all EU citizens and United Kingdom that their country of origin or residence, as well as citizens of third countries who enjoy rights of free movement in the EU, should be exempt from other temporary restrictions as long as they are subjected to tests and quarantine ”.
For workers with essential functions, such as healthcare professionals, the Commission recommends that they be tested, but not quarantined, if they are performing their essential functions.
Brussels points out that, given the need to guarantee essential travel and the return of citizens to their countries, “any ban on transport services, such as bans on air or rail connections, should be lifted.”
The European Commission also highlights the importance of maintaining the flow of goods without interruption, “if not to guarantee the timely distribution of vaccines against covid-19, for example.”
In this sense, it argues that “transport personnel within the EU should be exempt from any prohibition to cross any border and from the testing and quarantine requirements when traveling across a border to and from a ship, vehicle or plane “. .
“When a Member State, in the specific context of the situation between the EU and the United Kingdom and in the coming days, requires rapid antigen tests for transport workers, this should not cause interruptions in transport”, says the EU executive .
European Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders commented that “although preventive measures are needed to slow the spread of the new variant of the coronavirus,” blanket travel bans that prevent thousands of European and British citizens from returning home must be avoided. “
For her part, the European Transport Commissioner, Adina Valean, emphasized that “it is crucial that, within the EU, transport service workers are exempt from restrictive measures, such as quarantine and tests”, as it is imperative “to maintain the chains intact supply systems ”.
Nearly a thousand truckers have already spent two nights inside parked vehicles in the county of Kent, southeast of England, waiting for France to reopen the border of the Channel tunnel, closed due to the covid-19 pandemic.
According to the British government, 945 trucks from various countries are stopped near the port of Dover.
French authorities decided on Sunday night to close the border with the United Kingdom after confirming a new variant of SARS-CoV-2.
