US citizens will not be allowed to enter Europe when the EU’s external borders open on July 1st. The notification that US citizens are not allowed to enter the EU has not been well received by the current US administration. It has cast a stain over the country’s image.
Non-essential travel to the EU had been banned since mid-March. As of July 1st, visitors from countries with an epidemiological situation similar to that of the EU will be able to enter its territories.
The current EU’s proposed list of countries of which citizens would be allowed to enter the EU consists: Algeria, Andorra, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, San Marino, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay, and the Vatican.
In addition, China will be included if the EU is added to China’s list.
The list of countries allowed to enter the union was finalized in Brussels on Friday evening during a meeting between EU ambassadors.
Border controls remain under the jurisdiction of each member state but due to the free movement in the Schengen area, the EU is trying to coordinate traveling from outside the bloc during the crisis.
The US has had more than 120,000 deaths for 2.5 million cases, and the numbers continue to increase. The country is the most heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
For a country to be admitted on the list of entry, the EU proposal includes a large set of epidemiological criteria. The rate of new cases of Covid-19 close to or below 16 per 100,000 inhabitants, which is the average in the EU, over the last two weeks days.
The measures put in place by a country to control the pandemic, such as testing practices, is another factor, as well as the increase or decrease in the number of recent infected people.
