Below you'll find the official EU release document in pdf format, published by the EU yesterday. Titled 'A European Roadmap to Lifting Coronavirus Containment Measures.
A 15 page document outlining the EU actions and plans to a new normal. What this document does not cover is in any way each countries specific action dates or time frames. It does however read in Part 6 Section D as below.
[General states of emergencies with exceptional emergency powers for governments should be replaced by more targeted interventions by governments in line with their constitutional arrangements. This will ensure the democratic accountability and transparency of the measures taken and their wide public acceptance as well as guarantee fundamental rights and respect for the rule of law.]
What this basically means is every country needs to make it's own decisions, while the EU has created a road map to guide them with these needed measures. This is very similar to what we here are experiencing in the US. The US administration has outlined our 3 stage approach to reopening, but hey every single state needs to make their own decisions, and can even change the stages if desired. So here we have the EU doing the same thing, they closed the external and internal borders in March, but it reads as they will let each EU State decide when & how to reopen the land borders, and air borders. Already things are advancing within EU states and it's all a mixed bag of policies.
Greece plans on accepting international visitors very soon, as early as June 1st
Italy is working on how to accept international visitors this summer.
Croatia wants to reopen and salvage the summer tourism season.
Germany while already starting to reopening it's land borders will not accept international arrivals yet. A date of June 15th was given so far for both.
Portugal is concerned being they are deeply connected with Spain from north to south that the entire summer is lost, even though they have much better case counts.
Spain, France & the UK will likely be closed off to international (Non EU) arrivals for months. France stated no earlier than August 1st, UK has no idea & In Spain tourism is impossible unless they can reopen internal and external borders. While there are flights to/from London already active, the UK has a 14 day quarantine on all arrivals currently. Spain has the same policy in place for the foreseeable future.
Sweden is abiding by EU policy for now, even though they want to reopen soon.
Switzerland while reopening to EU visitors by end of May is working towards wanting international tourist this summer.
Czech Republic is trying to work with Croatia to reopen a safe corridor of travel within the next month.
Denmark is closed off until mid June, so it's a wait and see.
Iceland is reopening to international visitors after June 15th.
Austria is ready to reopen hotels as of the end of this month to EU visitors.
Ireland yesterday said they will follow EU guidance 100%.
Eastern Europe is a mixed bag, yet the Baltic states feel they are able to open to tourism in a safety partnership of travel.
Italy threatened to leave the EU, if the EU approved so called safe travel corridors and partnerships between member states, as it would show preferential status and unfair tourism practices within the EU.
by
Derek Schemonitz
Avenue Two Travel
Luxury Travel Advisor
412-345-7569
derek .schemonitz@avenuetwotravel.com