The ambassadors of the Member States to the EU (Coreper) gave their support, on Monday 1 February, to the Commission's proposal for a recommendation made on 25 January to tighten up the conditions of entry of non-Member State nationals into the EU (see EUROPE 12643/1). A written adoption procedure was to be launched in the wake of this discussion.
Invited to give their green light as early as 29 January, Member States wanted to give themselves some time to validate this tool, which intends in particular to impose negative PCR tests 72 hours before departure, including for essential travellers from non-Member States, especially those travelling for business reasons.
Some Member States wanted to go further and tighten up the exemptions provided for derogating from testing or quarantine measures. They also wanted to ensure that the recommendation could respond effectively to emergency situations, particularly to address developments in the variants, for example through a more frequent review than every fortnight.
In particular, the Commission's text proposed an exception to this rule of PCR testing and quarantine for persons working in the transport sector and frontier workers, who “ should be exempted from the obligation to present a negative PCR test and could be required only to present a negative rapid antigen detection test on arrival. Special rules (apply) also to aircrew”.
Some Member States have said that these exemptions should not be systematic.
The list of non-Member States whose nationals can come from the EU without entry conditions will be reviewed again next week.
On 29 January, the ambassadors had validated the new recommendation on travel in the EU (see EUROPE 12647/3). (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)