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TRAVEL NEWS

France suspends transit ban for Brits living in EU

The French government announced on Thursday that is has temporarily lifted its ban on UK nationals travelling through France to return to their homes in the EU, to avoid large numbers of Brits being stranded in the UK after the Christmas holidays.

Published: 30 December 2021 17:00 CET
Updated: 30 December 2021 21:10 CET
France suspends transit ban for Brits living in EU
Photo: Nicolas Tucat/AFP

France currently has strict controls in place on travel to and from the UK, banning almost all journeys. 

However the rules for Brits who live in another EU or Schengen zone country and need to transit through France in order to get home have been causing confusion, and some Brits resident in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy reporting being barred from entering France on their way home from festive breaks in the UK.

Following urgent enquiries from The Local, the French government confirmed that the rule remains in place banning transit travel by road, rail and sea – only air travel is allowed.

However it added that there would be a “period of tolerance” to allow people to return to their homes in the EU.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry told The Local: “A large number of British nationals residing in an EU country have travelled in good faith to the UK for the festive season and are experiencing difficulties in reaching their country of residence.

“Faced with this situation, instructions of tolerance have been sent to police officers at the borders with the United Kingdom, in order to allow these nationals to transit through France to reach their residence in a country of the European Union, after this Christmas and New Year period.”

It was not clear how long the period of tolerance will last for, but people who have their home in the EU are advised to have with them travel tickets showing that their date of entry to the UK is prior to December 31st 2021.

Eurotunnel, which operates the Channel Tunnel suggested that Brits would only be allowed home to transit France to other EU countries if they first travelled to the UK on or before December 28th. This cut off date hasn’t been confirmed by the French government however.

The strict rules for travel between France and the UK, however, remain in place.

People can only enter France from the UK if they meet one of the criteria for essential travel – find the full list HERE. There are also restrictions on who can leave France to go to the UK – full list HERE.

Among the groups allowed entry to France from the UK are;

  • French citizens, their partners and children
  • EU citizens who have their permanent residence in France or another EU country (including Brits who have dual nationality with an EU country)
  • Non-EU citizens who have their permanent residence in France
  • Non-EU citizens who are transiting through France by air, and are spending less than 24 hours in France

The rules amount to a de-facto ban on travel by Eurotunnel, Eurostar or ferry for any Brits who live in an EU or Schengen zone country other than France.

However the rule stipulating that transfers could only be made by air had not been well understood or publicised, leading to many British residents of countries like Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy travelling to see family in the UK over Christmas, believing that their residency status would allow them to return through France. 

Outside of the period of tolerance, the rules remain in place for all travel between France and the UK until further notice.

READ ALSO Everything you need to know about travel between France and the UK

Member comments

  1. Since all categories of travellers were coming from the UK and all had been vaccinated and tested , there was clearly no public health rationale for the original discrimination or for it now only being suspended. Just politicians messing with people’s lives again for no good reason.

  2. I was hoping that Macron might have been struck by an intelligent thought and re-opened the France / UK border but sadly no ! Lives on both sides of La Manche are being interfered with purely for political reasons !

  3. It is complete and utter rubbish. Politician’s playing games with peoples lives and well being. Does Macron not realise that the stupid rule is so easy to avoid for those that really have a desire to get here for whatever reason. Fly to Barcelona, Munich, Geneva etc etc – hire a car and drive here. Who on earth is going to stop you?? Total madness.

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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