Politico | US out, China in as EU looks to reopen external borders
- Brussels wants to restart limited global travel from July 1
- Diplomats agree one of the main criteria should be an incidence rate close to or below that across the EU
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Florian Eder, Saim Saeed and Jacopo Barigazzi on politico.com on June 23, 2020.
Travellers from the US and Brazil could be prevented from entering the EU when the bloc’s external borders are reopened, according to plans under discussion in Brussels.
As the bloc seeks to lift travel restrictions at its borders from July 1, EU diplomats are considering plans that would see only a limited number of countries placed on a safe list to restart flights with the EU – threatening tensions with some of the bloc’s biggest global partners.
EU ambassadors will on Wednesday meet to discuss criteria for countries to be allowed to restart travel to Europe. That’s expected to include a requirement that countries must have an infection rate below the EU’s average to be on the list.
As things stand, that would prevent travel from a range of countries, including the US, Brazil and North Macedonia, while travel to and from China would be permitted. Travel with around 50 countries could be restarted, according to preliminary lists seen by POLITICO.