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EU nations agree to open borders to vaccinated travellers from outside bloc

The 27 member states of the European Union announced on Wednesday they had agreed to allow fully vaccinated travellers to enter the bloc, according to reports.

EU nations agree to open borders to vaccinated travellers from outside bloc
(Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP)

EU ambassadors for the 27 member states reached an agreement on Wednesday to allow vaccinated holidaymakers from outside the EU, including the UK, to visit the bloc, reports say.

Ambassadors recommended at a meeting on Wednesday that rules should be changed to allow non-essential visits into the EU by travellers who are fully vaccinated – in other words both doses of a two-dose vaccine or one in the case of the Johnson & Johnson injection.

However on the unresolved question of how will visitors be able to prove they have been vaccinated, the EU said it will be up to individual member states to decide what evidence they will accept.

The Local is currently trying to determine what proof will be needed in the countries we cover.

The EU currently has a small “safe list” of countries from where travellers are allowed in for non-essential reasons due to its infection rates. The list includes Australia, New Zealand and Israel. The UK is expected to be formally added to this list on Friday although some EU countries, including France, have already jumped ahead and allowed non-essential travel from the UK.

Travellers from these countries are permitted to enter the bloc even if they are not vaccinated, but in general must show evidence of a recent negative test.

The EU is currently working on a “Covid-19 certificate” which will be allow travellers to prove they are either vaccinated, recovered from Covid or have recently tested negative.

Brussels is in talks with other countries like the US and the UK to determine whether visitors from these countries can also use the EU’s Covid-19 certificate, which should be available on a smartphone app sometime in June.

READ ALSO: How will the EU’s ‘Covid-19 certificate’ work for travel in Europe?

Meanwhile, Germany has already eased most quarantine requirements after travel for fully vaccinated people although there are still currently restrictions for people entering the country.

Earlier this month the EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen revealed the bloc’s plan “to revive the tourism industry and rekindle cross-border friendships”.

“We propose to welcome again vaccinated visitors and those from countries with a good health situation. But if variants emerge we have to act fast: we propose an EU emergency brake mechanism,” said Von der Leyen.

The EU has been trying to push a coordinated response across the 27 member states to allow for tourist travel from non-EU countries, which was effectively banned in March last year.

However border policy is decided on by each member state and finding common ground in this area has proved difficult.

There has been increasing pressure to open up from certain European countries such as Greece and Spain which depend heavily on tourism.

“The Commission proposes to allow entry to the EU for non-essential reasons not only for all persons coming from countries with a good epidemiological situation but also all people who have received the last recommended dose of an EU-authorised vaccine,” said the EU Commission statement.

The vaccines licensed for use in the EU so far are Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.

The Commission says growing evidence that vaccination helps to break transmission chains supports the argument to reopen borders to tourists from non-EU countries.

The EU parliament has backed the Commission’s plan for “EU Covid-19 certificates” that travellers would need to prove they are either fully vaccinated, recovered from Covid and therefore have antibodies or tested negative before travel.

This is what the EU Commission has proposed:

  • Member States should allow travel into the EU of those people who have received, at least 14 days before arrival, the last recommended dose of a vaccine having received marketing authorisation in the EU (Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson).
  •  If Member States decide to waive the requirements to present a negative PCR test and/or to undergo quarantine for vaccinated persons on their territory, they should also waive such requirements for vaccinated travellers from outside the EU.
  • Member States could consider setting up a portal allowing travellers to ask for the recognition of a vaccination certificate issued by a non-EU country as reliable proof of vaccination.
  • Children who are excluded from vaccination should be able to travel with their vaccinated parents if they have a negative PCR COVID-19 test taken at the earliest 72 hours before arrival area.

Several EU member states have already announced their own plans for reopening, including France which proposes allowing all vaccinated tourists from outside the EU from June 9th, and Spain which is talking to the UK government directly about access for British tourists this summer.

Member comments

  1. This is tremendous news for British who have family resident in Sweden . Everyone in UK over the age of 40 has now received 2 shots of the vaccine , and Covid cases in UK are now close to zero.

    1. That’s some rose-tinted glasses you are wearing, “Billy”.
      Yesterday’s cases: 1671, two doses given to 22,9% of population (people 40+ are 50% of population).

      Much better than Europe, but let’s not overstate it.

  2. The issue here, I’m afraid, is not who the EU will let in but who will want to come. Apart from the fact that ,say in the case of France, Brits would have to book their holidays whilst all the restaurants , bars etc are still closed, it’s very unlikely that any EU country – other than maybe Malta – will be on the UK green list. That means two-weeks holiday in France will cost every Brit tourist 2 weeks quarantine when they get back to Britain. That isn’t going to happen is it ? I understand the EU wanting to open up but really it’s premature and a decision not driven by the data but the economics of not wishing to lose another tourist season.

    1. You aren’t wrong, but my parents want to come see me anyways. We can still see things outdoors and order food for take out. Currently, despite being fully vaccinated since February, my parents have been unable to come visit me in Germany.

  3. All vaccinations approved by WHO should be allowed and not just the 3 that EU has approved. It’s sad to see that even in these times of peril Russia, Eu and China have horns locked over vaccine approvals

  4. We have rescheduled our daughter’s wedding for June 15 in Italy. Was supposed to have been in May 2020.
    Everyone in our group has been vaccinated, just waiting on pins and needles to see if they will let us in.
    Vaccination cards, app or whatever they want, just wish we could hear something somewhat definitive.

  5. US citizens get only a paper CDC card, which is so easily forged that fake cards are currently being sold by scammers. So which EU country wants to be the first to say they’ll accept this as proof of vaccination? Anyone? Anyone? Buehler?

    1. Since only 20% of EU citizens have been vaccinated, it’s really the tourists that need protecting from the locals rather than the other way round – specially those from the US and UK.

    2. True. I got my first shot yesterday. I’ll be “fully vaccinated” 6/18. I live in Germany, but I’m an American. My parents would love to come see me. They have been fully vaccinated since February. We do just have the cards. Still, everything has been honor system until now. UK and US citizens should be trusted. I know someone who came from Kenya and simply bought a fake test cert to come into Austria. They were never tested. If Germany (EU) is allowing that, surely the white card with name, vaccine type, batch, and date is good enough.

      1. “US and UK citizens should be trusted” ummm why? Everybody with a valid vaccination certificate should be trusted darling, not only white people. A lot of people who live in Kenya are escaping terror and death, that is not lesser important to mommy and daddy visiting.

        1. Wow. I’m not white, but the person I know coming from Kenya to Austria was white. You seem to have a lot of racism burning in your blood. Which countries are to be given greater trust has nothing to do with race, but rather, integrity with respect to government officials taking bribes and the prolific nature of fake documents. Obviously, most developed countries can be trusted and most developing countries should follow the “trust but verify” policy. I added the UK and the US because a. this paper is in English b. more than half of adults in those countries are vaccinated c. some nations have no restrictions coming to EU so I didn’t need to mention them. I should have added Israel and the UAE too. As far as those escaping war being more valuable than legal residents having parents visit, that isn’t really a topic for this article, but rather one of if the EU needs more refugees. I’m going to guess that’s an emphatic no from most people living and working in the EU.

        2. Terror and death????? Are talking about kenya ?or you mean Somalia?, Learn your history well n stop fake stories before talking nonsense!, kenya is heaven, one of the most comfortable place to live in africa!Do your research!

        3. lies!, which fake tests it is here where people are dieing not kenya , shame on you tanishing africa even when its so obvious , there is not much corona there, some of you whiter than snow wanna connect africa with corona! Shame!!!!

      2. lies!, which fake tests it is here where people are dieing not kenya , shame on you tanishing africa even when its so obvious , there is not much corona there, some of you whiter than snow wanna connect africa with corona! Shame!!!!

  6. The big question is, when will the Italian government recognise there are people living in Italy who are not registered with the health service and therefore unable to have a vaccination? It needs to be a vaccination for all persons living in the country not just for those with the health card. Until they “wake up” to the situation they will never go near eradication of the disease.

  7. Since when does Sweden coerce people into taking experimental vaccines? Didnt they ban that sort of thing at the Nuremberg Trials? My body, my choice yes? Just test the people as they arrive, and charge them 500kr for it soo my tax money doesnt have to pay for it. No Covid=no problem.

    As for ‘Protecting’ people, most people do absolutely nothing to protect themself! Eat and drink what ever they want, dont excerise, dont take suppliments to improve there immune system and now i have to protect them by taking an experiemntal vaccine! no thanks.

  8. To me the great issue here is only accepting vaccines approved by the EU and not all vaccines approved by the WHO. I come from South America and most countries here are vaccinated with Sinovac which is chinese but approved by the world health organization. If they don’t add these other approved vaccines to the list then Europe will lose a huge portion of tourists and then again they would discriminating greatly.

    1. Another thing to add is that for example in my home country we have 85 days till mass country immunity, that is less than half the time needed compared to European countries. Its tourists that need protections from Europeans not the other way around.

    2. EU’s own Hungary and Slovenia are using Russian vaccine – so how are they going to deal with that I wonder.

  9. Anyone has a clue when Norway will open the borders for partners to finally get together with their loved ones?

  10. Personally I would put a halt on travellers coming in from the UK. Whilst the vaccination campaign has been very successful there the spread of the new variant from India and the less talked about but arguably more worrisome one from Brazil due to the UK’s unwillingness to control inbound travel makes it a hotspot for the virus and a risk to its neighbouring countries.

    1. New studies show the vaccine is effective against both variants and only lowers immunity by about 10% to the Brazil one, but is equally effective against the India variant. No worries.

    2. Personally I would not recommend visiting the EU anymore. The businesses are so starved that you’re likely to experience very shady pricing practices and the mental health of Europeans has been severly degraded making the continent a very unpleasant place to be.

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BRITS IN FRANCE

Bad food but good culture: What the French really think of the UK

They might not love British cuisine but the UK remains a very popular destination for French people to visit, while thousands of them also want to make the move permanently.

Bad food but good culture: What the French really think of the UK

Almost three million French tourists travel to the UK every year with the country’s vibrant cities, history and culture given as the top reasons for their trip.

And a recent survey has revealed a surprisingly positive view of their neighbour from French people – with one exception.

The French participants in the study were asked to rank 60 different countries based on several different topics – tourism, culture, people, exports, governance, immigration and investment. 

So what did they say about the UK?

Bad food

French survey respondents placed British food at the very bottom of the list – in 60th place out of all 60 countries. 

This is far lower than the UK’s average, which was 18th amongst the other nationalities interviewed.

In an interview with The Guardian about how the French feel about British food, the British comedian, Tatty Macleod, who was raised in France said “English food to [the French] is essentially fish and chips (…) they think of Brits as beer louts with unhealthy diets”.

This has been a longstanding feeling amongst the French – in 2018, another comedian, Al Murray, went across the Channel with the documentary series ‘Why does everyone hate the English?’

In France, he teamed up with radio host Antoine de Caunes, and when launching the programme, they conducted a small survey of several hundred viewers to find out the top 20 things the French ‘hate’ about the English.

There were a couple of food-related comments: “Their inability to cook” came in fourth place, the “lack of variety in their diet” took 11th place and “the fact that they put ketchup on everything” came in 12th place, according to a round-up by Ouest France.

It’s been suggested that many French people have bad memories of food they were given on school trips to the UK, often decades ago, and certainly bad food is a recurring theme in French films and TV shows about trips to the UK.

Worth visiting

Despite not having a taste for British cuisine, the French did have a positive view of UK tourism, placing the country 5th for both “vibrant city life and urban attractions” and for being “rich in historic buildings and monuments” in the IPSOS study.

According to Visit Britain, the UK welcomed 2.8 million tourists from France in 2022.

In the culture category in general, the French ranked the UK in third place out of all 60 countries. 

One aspect of British culture that French people seem to really enjoy is the royal family.

In 2021, 6 million people in France watched the funeral of Prince Phillip, 4 million watched the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 and the royal weddings of princes William and Harry attracted 9 and 8 million French viewers respectively.

Charles de Gaulle once remarked: “The French have a taste for princes, but they will always look abroad'”.

READ MORE: Why British royals are so popular in France

And in terms of visiting the UK, IPSOS’ findings are in line with previous data about where French people choose to go on holiday – the UK was the fourth most popular country among French people, as of 2019, according to Le Monde.

A 2021 study by Visit Britain also found that 10 percent of French people would pick the UK as their top global destination.

Moving to the UK

And there are plenty of French people who decide to make their stay a long-term or even permanent one.

The UK ranked in third place as of 2023 for French students to study abroad.

It also comes in third place – behind Switzerland and the US – for having the most French people living there.

After Brexit, over 240,000 French people applied for the EU settlement scheme in the UK from 2018 to 2021, and once applications were reviewed, approximately 130,000 received settled status and 93,100 received pre-settled status. 

Among the French, London is sometimes nicknamed ‘France’s sixth city’ due to the number of French people living there.

Polite, well-mannered and funny

The French ranked Brits in 21st place for the question “If visited, people would make me feel very welcome”. This is an increase of two spots from the 2022 results.

When scouring the internet, British politeness does come up often in French clichés about the UK.

Ouest France reported that over a third (36 percent) of French people interviewed for Al Murray’s show “appreciated the politeness and good manners of the English.”

Three out of every 10 people also thought Brits had a good sense of humour – and Brits felt this way about themselves too. 

In a 2009 survey exploring British views of the French, 71 percent of participants said that the French are ‘sexier’ than the British, but 80 percent said the British had a better sense of humour. 

READ MORE: Do the French really have no sense of humour?

Driving on the left-side

And finally, to get a better idea of French opinions about Brits, The Local turned to Google.

We searched both anglais (English) and britanniques (British) because the French do have a bit of a tendency to mix them up and refer to all inhabitants of the UK (and sometimes even the Irish) with the sweeping les anglais. 

The first suggested response had to do with driving on the left-side of the road, which also popped up in the survey by ‘Why does everyone hate the English?’ as the number 1 thing the French ‘hate’ about the British.

READ MORE: Tea and Dordogne: How do the French perceive the Brits?

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