Macron backs Merkel on UK quarantine
GERMany and France threatened to undermine hopes of foreign holidays last night with a push to make British tourists quarantine on arrival in Europe.
angela Merkel yesterday appeared to win the backing of Emmanuel Macron and EU Council chief Charles Michel for a bloc-wide crackdown on UK holidaymakers this summer.
The German chancellor has been lobbying EU leaders to impose tougher measures on British tourists because of fears over the spread of the Indian, or Delta variant.
arriving at a summit in Brussels yesterday she said: ‘ I will lobby for a more co- ordinated approach, particularly with regard to entries from regions where virus variants abound.’
She warned the bloc was on ‘thin ice’ in its fight against the pandemic, calling on the 26 other EU leaders to impose the same measures on Britons as Germany.
Mr Macron, the French president, said yesterday: ‘We must all be vigilant because the much-talkedabout Delta variant is coming, which spreads much more rapidly than the other variants and affects people who are not vaccinated or who only have had one dose.
‘One of the issues of discussion is to be taking co-ordinated decisions in terms of opening of borders.’
In a draft set of conclusions for the summit last night, drawn up by Charles Michel’s officials, EU leaders stressed the need to be ‘vigilant and co- ordinated with regard to developments, particularly the emergence and spread of variants’.
But Spain’s tourism minister, Maria Reyes Maroto, appeared to hint at a split among EU nations, saying: ‘Hopefully we can begin to receive British tourists soon.
‘We don’t have any restrictions on tourists from the UK at the moment. They’re placing restrictions on people when they return.’
On Wednesday Mrs Merkel called for fellow European leaders to force UK travellers to quarantine for 14 days on arrival on the continent.
Berlin has already banned visitors from Britain unless they are a German citizen, have residency rights or if there is an ‘urgent humanitarian reason’ such as a family death.
The German chancellor’s move sparked a backlash in the UK.
Environment Secretary George Eustice said: ‘I’m not sure that such an approach would be justified given the highly advanced stage we are currently at now in terms of vaccination, with 80 per cent having had one jab and 60 per cent having had the second jab.’
Tory MP Henry Smith, chairman of the Future of aviation group of MPs, said the quarantine proposal ‘would be a retrograde step’ and added: ‘ I doubt countries like Spain, Portugal and Greece will agree to that. Their economies very much rely on travel business.’
Tim alderslade of aviation industry group airlines UK, said: ‘ It makes absolutely no sense when we’ve fully vaccinated 60 per cent of our population and we know the vaccines work against all known variants, including Delta.
‘I also doubt very much that Mrs Merkel has checked with the whole of the EU27 [members] given several of them are literally champing at the bit to welcome Brits.’
EU-wide rules are set to be introduced next week to kick-start tourism and travel in the bloc.
Brussels will allow vaccinated people to move around within the bloc’s Schengen area more freely. This could eventually be extended to the UK, officially now a ‘third country’ following Brexit. However, it is ultimately for each individual country to set their own rules.
Last week Italy announced UK arrivals will have to quarantine for five days and take a test on the fifth day. Greek officials were yesterday discussing the issue.
‘Champing at the bit’