Briefing
The European Union has opened its borders to 14 countries: Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, and Uruguay. On June 30, each of these countries was placed on the EU’s “safe list” after fulfilling a variety of criteria assessing covid-19 related risks. The EU is also expected to open its borders to China soon provided that China reciprocates.
Th EU’s “safe list” is not legally binding; each individual country will decide whether or not they will follow the recommendations. The safe list will be reviewed every 2 weeks using the European Commission’s Checklist that was published on June 11, 2020. The United States, Brazil and Russia are not included on the safe list due to continued COVID-19 related risks.
More Information
- European Union, “Council agrees to start lifting travel restrictions for residents of some third countries,”https://www.consilium.europa.eu/fr/press/press-releases/2020/06/30/council-agrees-to-start-lifting-travel-restrictions-for-residents-of-some-third-countries/
- European Union, “Communication from the Comission to the European Parliament, The European Council and The Council, on the third assessment of the application of the temporary restriction on non-essential travel to the EU,” https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/annex-communication-assessment-temporary-restriction-non-essential-travel_en.pdf
- New Yorks Times, “E.U. Formalizes Reopening, Barring Travelers From U.S.”, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/30/world/europe/eu-reopening-blocks-us-travelers.html
- Newsweek, “EU Bars Travelers From U.S. in Another Major Blow to Airline Industry,” https://www.newsweek.com/eu-bars-travelers-us-major-blow-airline-industry-1513836
- New York Times, “EU Plans to Bar Most U.S. Travelers When Bloc Reopens,” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/world/europe/europe-us-travel-ban.html?smid=em-share
- New York Times, “EU May Bar American Travelers as It Reopens Borders, Citing Failures on Virus,” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/world/europe/coronavirus-EU-American-travel-ban.html?searchResultPosition=4
- Johns Hopkins University, COVID-19 Dashboard, https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
- Washington Post, “CDC Says Coronavirus Cases May Be 10 Times Higher Than Reported,” https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/06/25/coronavirus-cases-10-times-larger/
