Ambassadors from the 27 EU members convened from Friday afternoon to establish criteria for granting quarantine-free access from next Wednesday.
JERUSALEM POST STAFF
European Union members agreed to re-open their borders to citizens of 14 countries, while the United States, Russia, Israel, Turkey or Saudi Arabia are currently excluded from it, as the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic in these countries is being considered more serious than in Europe, according to a report published by Le Monde.
Ambassadors from the 27 EU members convened from Friday afternoon to establish criteria for granting quarantine-free access from next Wednesday.
It has been decided Europe will re-open its borders to citizens from Australia, Canada, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Rwanda, Thailand, Uruguay, the three Maghreb states (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia ) and the three Balkan states (Georgia, Montenegro, Serbia).
The Le Monde report noted that some EU members have requested a delay in the decision for further examination, meaning the decision may be revised. The list is not entirely binding, border management remains a matter of national decision. The member countries may therefore not be open to all the fourteen nationalities selected, but they undertake, on the other hand, not to accept nationals from other states.
“International travel is key to tourism and business, and for family and friends reconnecting,” European Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said earlier this month.
Before the crisis, an average of 3.5 million people crossed an internal EU border every day, according to a European Parliament report last year, some 1.7 million of the commuting to work.
Reuters contributed to this article.
Content retrieved from: https://www.jpost.com/international/eu-to-re-open-borders-to-14-countries-starting-july-1-israel-us-left-out-632984.
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