The European Commission reminded the German government, on Tuesday 29 June, that any measures taken under the “emergency brake” tool contained in the Recommendation on non-essential intra-EU travel consisted of a testing or quarantine requirement.
It was reacting to Berlin’s decision to suspend almost all passenger arrivals from Portugal due to the Delta variant.
The Commission also indicated that Commissioners Didier Reynders, Thierry Breton and Stella Kyriakides wrote to Member States on 28 June to “encourage” them to more quickly implement this Recommendation, which notably lifts travel restrictions for people vaccinated and/or recovered from Covid-19.
“We need to guarantee exemptions for fully vaccinated and recovered people. We also need to ensure family unity and update the colour-coded ECDC [European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control - editor’s note] cards. This must be done by 1 July to ensure that we can comply with what has been decided for the Covid-19 digital certificate”, the Commission explained.
“Citizens must have confidence. They need to believe that they can travel abroad this summer”, it added. The Commission has therefore also asked the EU27 to regularly update the Reopen-EU platform. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)