Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

TRAVEL NEWS

Travel alerts: What do ‘risk’ warnings about France really mean?

You've probably seen a 'risk' warning about travel to France during one of the country's not infrequent periods of strikes or protests - but what do these warnings actually mean? The Local asked a professional risk and crisis management adviser how seriously we should take travel alerts.

Published: 31 March 2023 09:47 CEST
Travel alerts: What do 'risk' warnings about France really mean?
A protestor throws a beer can towards security forces during a demonstration in Paris. Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP

France has been in the grip of periodic strikes since January as unions battle pension reform, and in recent days violence has flared close to the routes of demos in Paris, Bordeaux and Rennes.

Calendar: The latest French pension strike dates

Despite this, life has continued as normal in France, so many people were bemused and amused to see travel warnings suggesting that people avoid the country.

Many pointed to this clip of French people calmly continuing to enjoy their apéro while a fire burns in the street as a more appropriate response to what are, after all, a few scattered incidents in a handful of French cities.

But how are these warnings created, who issues them and what do they mean to the average traveller?

The Local spoke to Alexandra Delgado, a global risk and crisis management adviser, who runs the Terrain-Neuf agency which provides customised solutions for travel risk management.

She said: “I totally understand why a Paris native might burst out laughing at the idea that you should avoid the city, but a lot depends on the traveller’s personal experiences – someone who lives in Geneva, for example, might never have even seen a burning tyre – as well as their reasons for travel and whether they are travelling for work.

“A risk management assessment will include all types of risk, from looking at whether public transport is safe and reliable, how easy it is to access medical care and specific risks from events with large crowds and demos, which we know can be risky as they can quickly turn.

“As an industry, risk management became a really hot topic during Covid, when for example you had situations like a company having to deal with the fact that its CEO was stuck on a cruise liner and they weren’t getting off for six week.”

Most travel warnings are issued by companies and are aimed at business travellers – whose employers have a legal liability if something goes wrong.

Alex said: “Big companies or international organisations like the UN have in-house teams who will asses the risk of all sorts of travel – from employees coming for a meeting at the OECD in Paris, to trips to Afghanistan.

“They will use data including traditional media, social media like TikTok or Snapchat, any existing data or press releases and calling a local operative on the ground, if they have one, to asses the risks of the trip and issue advice or a warning – typically you would shadow a team in the industry for several years in order to learn how to make judgements on different types of data.

“Smaller companies will usually outsource to an independent contractor to either produce risk assessments or sometimes – if they don’t want to pay for individual assessments – they will just sign up for a feed that sends alerts on anything related to that country.

“For the employers there is – one would hope – a moral responsibility for their staff but certainly a legal and financial one. For example, if an employee on a business trip wanders down the wrong street where windows are being smashed and gets a shard of glass in their eye, someone will end up paying for that – and it almost certainly won’t be the person who smashed the window.”

Most travel warnings are sent by large companies to employees – and for obvious financial reasons they tend to err on the side of caution. But the other groups that regularly send warnings are governments, via Embassies, to their citizens.

Governments tend to have their own in-house experts and issue various types of warnings to their citizens – from advice to expats to evacuate in extreme cases like the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, to travel advisories to tourists on issues like social unrest or strikes.

And it’s not uncommon for Embassies of different countries to offer different assessments of the same country.

Alex said: “Embassies tend to be writing to their audience – addressing the typical type of traveller. So for example the US Embassy might be thinking of John and Shirley from the Midwest, making their first trip to Europe who would be upset if they saw a burning pile of trash in Paris.

“Other Embassies might expect their citizens to be a little more worldly and knowledgeable if they were travelling from a closer country like the UK.”

So, how risky is a trip to a French city when there are protests on?

Alex, who lives in eastern France, close to the Swiss border, says: “I’m planning a trip to Paris soon and I’m not at all worried – I used to live in Paris and it’s a city I know well.

“The main piece of advice I would give to people is to look up demo routes in advance. These are published a few days in advance – many English-language media publish them – and just take five minutes out of your day to look up the planned route of a march so that you can stay clear of that area of the city, because demos are unpredictable and can be dangerous.

“The other thing I would do is check in advance any train or airport connections that might be disrupted because of a strike.”

The Local publishes advance information on planned strikes and demos – you can find the latest in our strike section HERE. 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

TRAVEL NEWS

Reader question: What will EES mean for foreigners living in Europe?

The EU's new Entry & Exit System (EES) of enhanced passport controls is due to come into force later this year, but among many questions that remain is the situation for non-EU nationals who live in the EU or Schengen zone.

Published: 27 April 2024 07:59 CEST
Reader question: What will EES mean for foreigners living in Europe?

Currently scheduled to start in autumn 2024 (unless it’s delayed again, which is not unlikely) the EU’s new Entry & Exit System is basically an enhanced passport check at external EU borders, including a facial scan and fingerprinting.

You can find a full explanation of the new system HERE.

Travellers crossing an external EU or Schengen border for the first time will be required to complete EES ‘pre-registration’ formalities including that facial scan and fingerprinting.

There are, however, several groups exempt from EES and one of them is non-EU nationals who have a residency permit or long-stay visa for an EU country.

So if you’re a foreigner living in the EU or Schengen zone, here’s what you need to know.

Exempt

One of the stated aims of EES is to tighten up enforcement of over-staying – IE, people who stay longer than 90 days in every 180 without a visa, or those who overstay the limits of their visa.

Obviously these limits do not apply to non-EU nationals who are resident in the EU or Schengen zone, which is why this group is exempt from EES checks. They will instead be required to show their passport and residency permit/visa when crossing a border, just as they do now.

In its explanations of how EES will work, the European Commission is clear – exempt groups include non-EU residents of the Bloc.

A Commission spokesman told The Local: “Non-EU citizens residing in the EU are not in the scope of the EES and will not be subject to pre-enrollment of data in the EES via self-service systems. The use of automation remains under the responsibility of the Member States and its availability in border crossing points is not mandatory.

“When crossing the borders, holders of EU residence permits should be able to present to the border authorities their valid travel documents and residence permits.”

How this will work

How this will work on the ground, however, is a lot less clear.

Most ports/airports/terminals have two passport queues – EU and non-EU. It remains unclear whether the non-EU queue will have a separate section for those who are exempt from EES.

It does seem clear that exempt groups will not be able to use the automated passport scanners – since those cannot scan additional documents like residency permits – but should instead use manned passport booths. However it is not clear whether these will be available at all airports/ports/terminals or how non-EU residents of the EU will be directed to those services.

There’s also the issue that individual border guards are not always clear on the processes and rules for non-EU residents of the EU – even under the current system it’s relatively commonly for EU residents to have their passports incorrectly stamped or be given incorrect information about passport stamping by border guards.

Brits in particular will remember the immediate post-Brexit period when the processes as described by the EU and national authorities frequently did not match what was happening on the ground.

The Local will continue to try and get answers on these questions. 

READ ALSO What will EES mean for dual nationals

What if I live in the EU but I don’t have a visa/residency permit?

For most non-EU citizens, having either a visa or a residency permit is obligatory in order to be legally resident.

However, there is one exception: UK citizens who were legally resident in the EU prior to the end of the Brexit transition period and who live in one of the “declaratory” countries where getting a post-Brexit residency card was optional, rather than compulsory. Declaratory countries include Germany and Italy.

Although it is legal for people in this situation to live in those countries without a residency permit, authorities already advise people to get one in order to avoid confusion/hassle/delays at the border. Although EES does not change any rules relating to residency or travel, it seems likely that it will be more hassle to travel without a residency card than it is now.

Our advice? Things are going to be chaotic enough, getting a residency permit seems likely to save you a considerable amount of hassle.

Delays 

Although residents of the EU do not need to complete EES formalities, they will be affected if the new system causes long queues or delays at the border.

Several countries have expressed worries about this, with the UK-France border a particular cause for concern.

READ ALSO Travellers could face ’14 hours queues’ at UK-France border

Where does it apply?

EES is about external EU/Schengen borders, so does not apply if you are travelling within the Schengen zone – eg taking the train from France to Germany or flying from Spain to Sweden.

Ireland and Cyprus, despite being in the EU, are not in the Schengen zone so will not be using EES, they will continue to stamp passports manually.

Norway, Switzerland and Iceland – countries that are in the Schengen zone but not in the EU – will be using EES.

The full list of countries using EES is: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Therefore a journey between any of the countries listed above will not be covered by EES.

However a journey in or out of any of those countries from a country not listed above will be covered by EES.

You can find our full Q&A on EES HERE.

SHOW COMMENTS