EUleaders agree to close borders to most foreigners
EUROPEAN Union leaders have agreed to immediately impose travel restrictions on most foreigners entering Europe for at least 30 days to limit the spread of coronavirus.
The bloc has also set up fasttrack transport lanes to keep vital medical equipment, food and goods flowing smoothly inside the economic area.
As the virus case count in Europe climbed to over 60,000 and with more than 2,700 people dead, nervous national governments have introduced quick-fix measures such as partial border closures and quarantines with little consultation.
The EU sought, over three hours of video talks, to forge a united front against an illness that is also wreaking economic havoc.
“We reaffirmed the need to work together and do everything necessary to tackle the crisis and its consequences,” European Council President Charles Michel told reporters.
He said the 27 EU countries agreed to impose border restrictions on tourism and non-essential business “as fast as possible”.
The plan exempts long-term EU residents, diplomats and some healthcare and transport workers.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said her proposal for the restrictions “got a lot of support by the member states. It’s up to them now to implement. They said they will immediately do that.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the leaders agreed in a conference call to an entry ban with “very, very limited exceptions”, and that Germany would start implementing it immediately.
Ms Merkel said citizens of Switzerland, Liechtenstein, the United Kingdom and Norway are exempt.
The EU leaders also agreed to co-ordinate the repatriation of EU citizens stranded outside the bloc, she said.
Ms Von der Leyen said they also backed a proposal to set up “green lanes” for trucks and other priority vehicles aimed at beating the traffic jams that have formed around crossing points on internal borders, where no ID or vehicle checks were required just days ago.
Those transport guidelines, she said, “have to be implemented now”.
The leaders agreed to meet again for a third video conference and to cancel a summit they planned to attend in Brussels late next week.
“We are ready to do everything that is required. We shall not hesitate to take additional measures as the situation evolves,” Ms von der Leyen told reporters.
In a new update yesterday, the European Centre for Disease
Prevention and Control said that 61,098 cases of coronavirus have now been reported in Europe and that 2,740 people have died, the overwhelming majority in Italy.
After Italy, ground zero in Europe’s battle with Covid-19, Spain and now France have imposed lockdowns, confining citizens to their homes except for urgent business like buying food or heading to any hospital that might still have the capacity to treat them.
Nine countries have informed the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, that they’ve reintroduced ID checks inside Europe’s passport-free Schengen Area.
Among them are Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland, which all took unilateral action to halt the influx of migrants in 2015.
Asked on Monday whether Europe can ever return to real IDcheck-free travel after this, Ms Merkel said: “I hope so. But it’s been shown that co-ordination didn’t work well everywhere the way one would have hoped.”
The EU proposals endorsed yesterday are relatively modest, as Europe’s centralised powers in this crisis are limited.