EU leaders will again discuss restrictions on non-essential travel within the European Union and internal border control measures, which have been heavily criticised by the Commission, on Thursday 25 February.
The subject had already dominated the informal meeting of the EU-27 in January, but since then some countries have gone further in their measures, such as Belgium, which prohibits EU residents and tourists from leaving and entering its territory. A measure which the Commission considers disproportionate (see EUROPE 12664/8).
Germany also applies what are considered to be very strict controls at its borders with Austria (the Tyrol area) and the Czech Republic is considering controls for France. However, the subject should not create excessive controversy among the EU-27, as one diplomat suggested on Wednesday 24 February, saying that the situation regarding free movement in the EU “is better than last year at this time”.
“Today, we are in an even more difficult context, with the arrival of variants, which is causing many governments to be legitimately nervous and cautious”, comments another source, recalling that during the first wave of 2020, “we had almost 19 countries that had closed their borders and this week we are still less than 10”.
The Member States also have the right to “take restrictive measures” to contain the pandemic and they decided to do so in January, the first diplomat added. “In the room, in January, all the leaders agreed that restrictive measures could be taken”, but the “key is proportionality”, he acknowledged.
Member States must therefore ensure that these measures do not undermine the Internal Market and the free movement of goods and services.
This is what the leaders must remember, according to a draft declaration seen by EUROPE. “The epidemiological situation remains serious” and the new variants “pose additional challenges. Therefore we need to maintain strict restrictions while stepping up efforts to speed up vaccine delivery”, says the draft, adding that “for the time being, non-essential travel must be limited”.
“We welcome the adoption of two EU Council recommendations on travel within and outside of the EU, according to which restrictions may be introduced in accordance with the principles of proportionality and non-discrimination and taking into account the specific situation of cross-border communities. The free movement of goods and services within the Single Market must be ensured, in particular by using Green Lanes”, says the draft text.
Vaccination passport: not yet the time to make it a tool for free movement
The issue of the vaccination certificate to be able to travel in the EU again is also likely to come back on the leaders’ table as countries such as Greece and Cyprus are pushing this idea to prepare their tourist season.
But it is still “too early” to set the objectives of this vaccination passport. This debate will be “relevant when 70% of the population is vaccinated”, says another observer.
At this stage, the President of the European Council does not in any case look poorly on the agreements that these countries of the South are making with non-Member States such as Israel, which are based on a vaccination requirement to welcome tourists from each other.
For Manfred Weber, leader of the EPP in the European Parliament, in any case this debate and the introduction of a common certificate must be accelerated. “The Member States are much too slow!”, he said on Wednesday. “Vaccination is our way back to normal and also back to travel. If we don't prepare a functional system now, it will be a bureaucratic nightmare to go back to all the people who have already been vaccinated to get them an EU vaccination certificate”. (Original version in French with Solenn Paulic with Marion Fontana and Damien Genicot)