EU Set to Keep Its External Borders Closed Until July

(Bloomberg) --

The European Union plans to prolong until July 1 a ban on most travel in and out of the bloc as member nations first remove internal border controls triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Many” EU governments on Friday supported renewing for a third time a restriction on outside arrivals, said European Home-Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson. The curb on non-essential travel to the bloc is due to lapse on June 15 after being introduced in mid-March for 30 days and extended twice as Europe stepped up the fight against the virus.

“We should consider the gradual lifting of restrictions on non-essential travel to the EU early July,” Johansson told reporters.

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Europe is seeking to balance competing desires to revive domestic economies as the summer tourist season gets underway and to guard against a second wave of infections.

A consensus to keep the external border curb in place through June emerged during a video conference of EU home-affairs ministers and sets the stage for a recommendation on the matter next week by the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm. The commission has urged internal EU borders to be reopened before external ones.

“Almost all member states expressed today a strong preference for a further, much shorter, prolongation of this period,” Johansson said. “So that means that internal border controls are lifted by the end of June, I guess.”

Italy, the original European epicenter of the virus outbreak, urged EU countries to act in unison on kick-starting travel across the bloc after the government in Rome ended a national lockdown earlier this week.

“Tourism is a fundamental sector for our economies and for the single market on which we need to maintain a shared and European approach,” Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio told reporters in Berlin on Friday after talks with his German counterpart, Heiko Maas.

Austria announced on Wednesday the lifting of travel controls for all neighboring countries except Italy, saying the infection numbers across its southern border are still too high. Greece has already said it's not yet ready to let all Italians in.

Speaking alongside Di Maio, Maas underscored a plan by Germany to replace an across-the-board warning against unnecessary travel within Europe with travel guidance for each nation, including Italy.

“We expect that those who choose to take vacation in Italy will be able to travel to Italy unhindered,” Maas said.

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The ban on non-essential travel to the EU has showcased the potential for voluntary coordination among member countries under the aegis of the commission, which formally has no decision-making power over the matter. Health policy in Europe is primarily a national responsibility.