Imperial Valley Press

EU to ban most foreign travelers for 30 days to curb virus

- BY LORNE COOK

BRUSSELS — The leaders of European Union nations have agreed to institute a travel ban that prohibits most foreigners from entering the bloc for 30 days to discourage the spread of the new coronaviru­s.

EU leaders agreed on Tuesday to shut down the 27-nation’s bloc’s external borders immediatel­y.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the proposal by EU officials “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 late Tuesday that European leaders agreed in a conference call to the Commission’s proposal for an entry ban with “very, very limited exceptions.”

Merkel says citizens of Switzerlan­d, Liechtenst­ein, the United Kingdom and Norway are exempt.

The EU leaders also agreed to coordinate the repatriati­on of EU citizens stranded outside the bloc, she said.

European Union leaders are set to hold their second summit in two weeks on Tuesday, a fresh attempt to forge a joint response to the novel coronaviru­s as Europe takes over from China as the frontline in the fight against a disease claiming thousands of lives.

The virus case count in Europe has climbed to over 50,000 and more than 2,000 people have died.

The inexorable spread of the disease has roiled markets and sown public fear, but nervous government­s have introduced quick-fix measures - partial border closures or quarantine - with little consultati­on.

After Italy, ground zero in Europe’s battle with COVID-19, Spain and now France have imposed lock-downs, 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.

Seven 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

Indeed, it is a similar challenge that leaders are grappling with as they confront the coronaviru­s — how to ensure that the fraying solidarity among partners in the same European club does not completely unravel as the crisis deepens.

Asked Monday whether Europe can ever return to real IDcheck free travel after this, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: “I hope so. But it’s been shown that coordinati­on didn’t work well everywhere the way one would have hoped.”

The main problem confrontin­g the leaders, as they meet in a virtual online video-conference from their offices in the bloc’s 27 capitals, is to halt the arrival of more virus cases, coordinate any border closures and guarantee that vital medical equipment and food can reach those in need.

They are expected to endorse a 30-day travel ban on people wanting to come to Europe for tourism or non-essential business. Long-term EU residents, diplomats and members of European families would be exempt. Health care and transport workers could escape the ban too.

Separately, so-called “green lanes” would be set up at the internal borders of the 26 Schengen countries, allowing fast-track access for trucks ferrying essential supplies to defy the traffic jams that have begun forming at some crossing points.

The aim, according to EU Council President Charles Michel, who will chair the summit, is “to reduce unnecessar­y movement but at the same time to ensure the movement of merchandis­e, of goods, so that we can guarantee as much as possible the integrity of the single market, guarantee the deliveries that are needed.”

The proposals are relatively modest, but Europe’s powers in this crisis are limited.

While it may be a Union, the world’s biggest trading bloc remains an accumulati­on of 27 individual countries, some with populist and far- right government­s that reject orders from Brussels.

 ?? AP PHOTO/OLIVIER MATTHYS ?? A man looks at departure boards at the main hall of the nearly empty Central train station in Brussels, on Monday.
AP PHOTO/OLIVIER MATTHYS A man looks at departure boards at the main hall of the nearly empty Central train station in Brussels, on Monday.

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