The European Commission has announced today it is mulling the idea of closing all of its external borders, halting entry for all non-essential trips to the Schengen Area for foreigners, as a measure against the widely-spread novel Coronavirus.
The decision to ban foreigners from entering may also apply to the non-Schengen EU Member States, Romania, Cyprus, Croatia and Bulgaria. Ireland and the UK, however, will not apply it.
The EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen while announcing the proposal, said that UK citizens, though in the transitional period of leaving the EU, would not be subject to the entry ban,
“The UK citizens are European citizens, so, of course, there are no restrictions for the UK citizens to travel to the Continent,” she explained.
According to the proposal, while all non-essential entry to EU will be halted, excluded are doctors, medical staff and cross-border workers.
Europe’s move to undertake such a move follows the reintroduction of internal border controls by several EU member countries banning from entering all travellers that were not their passport holders, including Germany and Estonia.
Sources of SchegnenVisaInfo.com confirm that the idea has been firstly discussed on a phone call this morning between French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Angela Merkel and the heads of the European Commission and Council. The first had accused member states of taking unilateral moves during the call.
The discussion has been followed by a joint video meeting between Commissioners Kyriakides and Johansson with the EU ministers of Health and of Home Affairs, during which the commissioners presented the guidelines regarding the proposal.
“Our measures to contain the Coronavirus outbreak will be effective only if we coordinate on the European level. We have to take exceptional measures to protect the health of our citizens. But let’s make sure goods and essential services continue to flow in our internal market. This is the only way to prevent shortages of medical equipment or food,” President von der Leyen said regarding the situation.
For the Schengen Area to be suspended, all Schengen members must approve the plan.
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