“We look forward to seeing transatlantic travel resume as soon as science permits.“, more “I am not able to specify a timeframe because it will largely depend on the epidemiological evolution“and”variants“: said Monday, interviewed by AFP, the spokesman for American diplomacy Ned Price.
Washington’s speech has therefore not changed after President Joe Biden’s European tour.
And his government has confirmed that it is in no hurry to authorize the resumption of comings and goings by extending, until at least July 21, the closure of its land borders with Canada and Mexico, as it is doing. every month since the start of the pandemic.
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In addition to these restrictions with neighboring countries, travelers from the Schengen area, the United Kingdom and Ireland have not been able to enter the United States since March 2020 – a “travel ban“also in force, since different dates, for South Africa, Brazil, China, India and Iran.
– “Reciprocity” –
However, thanks to the spectacular decline in Covid cases and the progress of vaccination, the countries of the European Union have decided to reopen their own borders to Americans, provided they are vaccinated or present a negative test.
“I hope we will find a similar solution in the spirit of reciprocity for travelers from Germany and the EU to the USA“, tweeted German Ambassador to Washington, Emily Haber.
In reality, this reciprocity, the Europeans demand it without however demanding it.
From a European diplomatic source, it is recognized that the Twenty-Seven have given up making it a condition of their own reopening under pressure from countries whose economy depends most on American tourists, such as Greece, Italy, Spain. but also France.
In the absence of a real balance of power, Washington therefore remains vague, especially as local tourism seems to make up for the absence of Europeans for the moment.
US voices in favor of resuming travel are also still timid: a few sectors, including airlines, are beginning to speak out, and the business daily, the Wall Street Journal, estimated in an editorial titled “Bring back the tourists“that there was”no reason“to the lack of reciprocity.
– “Trapped” –
Just the Biden administration announced two weeks ago the creation of working groups with the EU, London, Ottawa and Mexico, in order to “chart the way forward“to reopen the borders”safelyThere too, no timetable has been announced for their work.
Joe Biden, elected on a promise of a rigorous fight against Covid-19 after the criticized management of Donald Trump, “prioritizes the health issue over everything else, without taking into account the social and human consequences“, says Célia Belin, of the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington.
According to this French political scientist very mobilized against a situation that she considers unfair, the democratic president “does not want to take any risk“for now, all the more with”concern about the Delta variant“.
The problem, she told AFP, is that where the Europeans had clearly set the epidemiological threshold at which they would accept the Americans, “we do not know the health criteria that will govern a possible reopening on the American side“.
This “lack of transparency leaves everyone in doubt“, she laments.
Because beyond tourists, this closure affects tens of thousands of expatriates who work, pay their taxes and educate their children in the United States without having the status of residents. The latter, if they come from a country concerned by the “travel ban“, cannot return home because they cannot then return to American soil.
They are “trapped“, summarizes Célia Belin.
Without visibility, European diplomats are reduced to forecasts.
Will Joe Biden announce the reopening on July 4, during the national holiday he wants to celebrate as that of the return to normal? Or will he prefer to let the summer pass?
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What is certain is that even after the authorization of the round trips, many expatriates, whose work visas have often expired in recent months, will remain stuck for a long time, as the American consulates seem to have been disorganized by the pandemic and are seriously behind schedule in processing applications.
