The European Commission proposed on 8 April to EU Member States and Schengen countries, including associated third countries, to extend non-essential travel restrictions to the EU until May 15.
The measure had been proposed and approved by 26 Member States on 17 March for 30 days (Ireland cannot join). Last week, the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, had indicated that discussions were underway to extend the measure aimed at limiting the entry of third-country nationals into the EU for holidays.
According to the Commission, the current health situation justifies this extension with "a continued increase in the number of new cases and deaths in the EU as well as the progression of the pandemic outside the EU, including in countries where millions of people usually travel to the EU every year. In this context, it is necessary to extend the travel restrictions to reduce the risk of the spread of the disease", say Ylva Johansson, responsible for Home Affairs, and Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President for the Promotion of the European Way of Life, in a statement.
"The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control considers that the risk of increased EU transmission is moderate if mitigation measures are in place and very high if these measures are insufficient", the Commission says.
Eurocontrol reported an overall reduction of 86.1% in the number of flights on 31 March 2020, i.e. 25,948 fewer flights than on 31 March 2019. Overall, passenger traffic has been reduced to almost zero, with the remaining flights being mainly limited to cargo and repatriation flights, according to the communication.
A similar trend in passenger traffic can be observed in other modes of transport, such as ferry, coach and rail.
Link to the communication: https://bit.ly/3e6ucos (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)