Baltimore Sun

EU calls for lifting ban on travelers from US

- By Monika Pronczuk

BRUSSELS — The European Union recommende­d on Friday that its member states lift the ban on nonessenti­al travel for visitors from the United States, a move sure to be welcomed by Americans eager to travel to the continent after more than a year of tight restrictio­ns.

The recommenda­tion is nonbinding, and each member state can decide what regulation­s, including quarantine­s, to impose on visitors, and several nations quickly said they would open their doors to American travelers. Americans have been mainly banned from Europe as the United States grappled with one of the highest caseloads in the world.

The opening is also expected to provide relief for southern European countries that depend heavily on tourism, including Italy and Portugal. Those countries pressed the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, to act so that the entire summer tourist season would not be hurt by the absence of Americans, who are considered relatively big spenders.

The decision comes days after President Joe Biden’s visit to Brussels, where he met with top EU officials.

But despite vows of mutual affection between Biden and the officials, travel remains one-sided. Europeans are still barred from entering the U.S. for nonessenti­al travel even if they have been fully vaccinated, following a sweeping travel ban announced by President Donald Trump in March 2020 and extended in January by Biden.

Friday’s decision was made by Europe’s economy ministers, who agreed to add the United States to a list of countries considered safe from an epidemiolo­gical point of view.

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