The Twenty-seven have now agreed in principle on the criteria that countries, whose nationals will be allowed to travel into the European Union, must meet from Wednesday, July 1, when the block begins to allow limited opening to just fifteen countries.
On Friday, the ministers of member states reached a “compromise agreement” on the criteria for choosing which countries will be able to resume travel to the EU. This proposal includes a list of fifteen countries, including China, Morocco and Australia, but it leaves out the majority, including the United States, Russia and Brazil, for fear of new outbreaks.
However, the delegations saw it necessary to consult with their governments on the positions of each member state, so they were given until Saturday evening to submit comments or reservations to the agreement.
Although “not all member states have responded” and some say that further consultations will be needed throughout Sunday, after analysing the positions that have been reached, the EU presidency plans to launch the formal procedure for the adoption of this agreement on Monday.
The list of countries whose nationals will be the first to enter the EU includes Algeria, Australia, Canada, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay, Georgia and China, although for China the lifting of the veto will be subject to reciprocity.
This is a first list of countries, which will be reviewed periodically – probably every two weeks – to align it at all times with the health situation.
