While Member States finalised on Tuesday 30 June a first common list of 15 non-Member States (see EUROPE 12517/8) whose nationals may return to the EU starting 1 July (subject to reciprocity for China), some Member States have already announced that their own list may be pared down.
The joint recommendation framing the list allows them to do so: the list remains indicative and constitutes only the maximum number of third countries that Member States may now include on their own national list.
A number of Member States also abstained in the vote on this recommendation and list, as did Poland and Austria, indicating that they might not reopen to as many countries.
Several Member States – such as the Czech Republic, but also Germany – have in any case already indicated that they intend to draw up a more limited list of non-Member States. Prague has thus indicated that reciprocity still justified the closure of the country to Algeria, Georgia, Morocco, Rwanda, Tunisia and Uruguay at this stage, according to Euractiv.
Germany has a list of only 11 countries, Der Spiegel reported on 1 July: Australia, Georgia, Canada, Montenegro, New Zealand, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay. And Germany will only reopen to Japan, South Korea and China, if these countries allow German tourists to return in exchange.
Belgium could also draw up a limited list of non-Member States.
The recommendation adopted by the Member States is not binding, but Member States have committed themselves to coordinate closely and not to add other third countries not on the list.
The recommendation also stipulates that movement within Schengen should be unrestricted, i.e., without internal border controls. From this perspective, a Moroccan tourist arriving in an EU country – France, for example – would logically have the right to extend his stay in Germany, even if Berlin did not include Morocco on its list.
Turkey is disappointed
Among the international reactions, on 1 July Turkey expressed its disappointment at not being on the list and asked the EU to correct the “mistake” of excluding it from the list.
“The absence of Turkey on the list is disappointing”, said Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy in a statement quoted by AFP. “We hope that this error will be corrected as soon as possible”, he stated, adding that the decision should have been taken on the basis of “objective criteria”.
The European list, which is based on a health criterion and only includes countries in the same or better epidemiological situation than the Member States, must be reviewed every two weeks. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)