European countries will be advised to open borders to countries with similar coronavirus-risk profiles, under a plan to bolster the ailing tourist industry being discussed in Brussels.
The European commission is expected on Wednesday to recommend a three-phase approach to reopening borders that suggests EU countries with “similar overall risk profiles” on the pandemic open to tourists from each other’s countries, according to a leaked version of the draft seen by the website Euractiv.
The EU executive has previously voiced unease about “tourism corridors”, whereby member states make bilateral deals to open to each other’s tourists, but now appears ready to accept these arrangements in practice.
The EU includes some of the countries worst hit by the pandemic – notably Spain and Italy – but others such as Greece and the Czech Republic that limited its impact.
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Now officials are scrambling to rescue Europe’s tourism industry, which accounts for 10% of EU economic output, more in Italy, Spain, Croatia and Greece.
Austria’s chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, announced last week that he intended to open the borders to visitors from safe countries, such as Germany and the Czech Republic, as part of efforts to protect the Alpine state’s tourism industry.
Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia will reopen their borders to each other from 15 May, creating a Baltic “travel bubble”.
“We showed a good example by stating, very clearly, that only countries which successfully dealt with the situation can open themselves up,” Lithuania’s prime minister, Saulius Skvernelis, has said.
Senior EU officials acknowledge they cannot stop governments from striking such bilateral or trilateral deals, but argue against selective treatment. If Austria opens to Germany, it would be expected to permit entry to all residents in Germany.
The commission’s acceptance of national border controls contrasts with earlier unease. “Member states cannot open borders for citizens from one EU country, but not from others. This is essential,” the EU home affairs commissioner, Ylva Johansson, told MEPs last week.
Source: EU could reopen borders to tourists in Covid-19 recovery plan
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