The national ambassadors of the Member States to the EU decided on Wednesday 14 July to add Ukraine to the list of third countries whose residents can travel to the EU for non-essential reasons again (provided they are vaccinated, tested negative or recovered from Covid-19), but at the same time decided to remove Rwanda and Thailand, where the health situation has deteriorated and no longer meets EU criteria.
The current list therefore comprises 26 countries, after the Member States decided on 30 June to add 11 new countries and territories (see EUROPE 12752/13).
The UK has still not been added to this list, which includes the following countries: Ukraine, the United States, North Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Lebanon, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Canada, Jordan, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and China, subject to reciprocity.
Malta reverses its decision
In addition, the ambassadors had a broader discussion on the travel situation in the European Union, with some countries outlining their new measures, such as France, which now has a compulsory health ‘pass’, and Malta, which has just abandoned its decision to allow only fully vaccinated people to enter its territory. Everyone will be able to come to Malta from now on, but unvaccinated people will have to respect a mandatory two-week quarantine.
Several countries have called on their neighbours to better implement the recommendation on intra-EU travel adopted on 11 June (see EUROPE 12739/6), which aimed to coordinate the restrictions in place and remove them for people with the European Covid certificate. Other countries, such as Germany and the Nordic countries, said one source, have insisted on the right of Member States to implement travel bans: Germany recently did so for Portugal, before it too ended the ban.
The discussion also led a number of countries to ask for a revision of the criteria of this recommendation for more “clarity”, especially on situations where there is a high prevalence of cases, the source said. These countries have requested a further discussion on this issue in September.
The Commission, for its part, insisted on the proper implementation of the recommendation. The source said that the Commission made it known that at this stage Member States were far from having done so. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)