In the last few days the countries belonging to the European Union have found an agreement to partially reopen their external borders starting from July 1st after almost three months of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic. The joint efforts have been coordinated by the European Union – which has no competence on border management, which is up to the nation states – and a list of about twenty countries with which air flights, trains and other forms of transport.
The list will be made official in the next few hours: one of the latest versions, read and published by Politico, does not include some of the countries that have seen a marked increase in contagions in recent weeks, such as the United States, Russia, Brazil and India. At present there are 18 countries in the list: Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, Serbia, Algeria, Andorra, Georgia, Montenegro, Morocco, Rwanda, San Marino, Tunisia, Uruguay and Vatican City.
China will only be included in the list if European citizens are allowed to enter China without restrictions, he writes Politico.
The list was compiled after several negotiations on the method of inclusion of the various countries – some proposed to establish the necessary criteria and only later to think about individual countries; then the line of limiting the list to 15 major countries to identify – and the choice of which to leave out – prevailed.
The Washington Post writes that some southern European states including Greece and Portugal had insisted on opening borders to as many countries as possible in an attempt to attract foreign tourists in time for the summer season. The Northern countries, on the other hand, have gotten to limit the list to a small group. The European Commission, however, had asked to open borders to all Balkan countries that do not belong to the EU, writes Reuters: in the end the data from Bosnia and North Macedonia were not considered good enough to allow the reopening of the borders.
The main ones excluded from the list are the United States, historical allies of Europe, but the newspapers do not report particular discussions on the topic among European countries. The United States remains the country most affected by the pandemic in the world, and there have been significant increases in cases in various southern states in the past two weeks. In recent days, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he will continue to negotiate with countries. Europeans for the reopening of borders, explaining that there are “at least a dozen” in favor of restoring connections with the United States (even if it has not specified which).
– Also read: Some data on excess deaths in Europe
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