Europe is asking for “reciprocity” from the United States in terms of welcoming European tourists, particularly with regard to quarantine, as part of the easing of restrictions linked to Covid-19, European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton said Monday on radio RTL.
“We already welcome American tourists from the moment they are vaccinated, from the moment they have had the two doses and we have waited the 15-day period,” said the European Commissioner.
“I insist that we want reciprocity, because for the moment we still have quarantine in the United States [for Europeans.]”
The EU-27 agreed on 19 May to allow entry into the EU for travellers from third countries who had received the necessary doses of the Covid-19 vaccines authorised at European level.
Travellers must have been fully vaccinated for at least 14 days, with the two doses from Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca or the single dose from Johnson & Johnson.
The EU proposed that there should be no testing or quarantine for fully vaccinated people, but these decisions are ultimately up to each member state.
France, for example (which will reopen to travellers according to a colour code from 9 June), will continue to require a negative test (PCR or antibody) for travellers from the United States in particular, whether they are vaccinated or not.
Asked about tourism, Breton said he would have “a meeting this evening with [his] American counterpart, the head of American vaccines, to discuss precisely this issue” of welcoming Americans to Europe, and vice versa.
Breton said that Europe would like the same reciprocity when it comes to Chinese tourists, as well.
“We are watching the evolution of the pandemic [in China],” Breton said.
“From the moment we welcome Chinese tourists, there must be the same reciprocity, with a comparable situation.”
The Brussels Times
