Last week, Ursula von der Leyen the president of the European Commission expressed dismay at a decision by the Trump administration to slap a travel ban on all countries within the border-free Schengen zone, saying the decision was done without consultation. Things only got worse as European members states then decided to unilaterally impose their own border restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 Coronavirus.
But now, von der Leyen says the European Commission is itself pushing for its own Europe-wide travel ban because of a “public health crisis” that is putting health care systems under “huge pressure”.
“We need to do more to reduce the huge pressure on our health care system. Here in Europe, we are heavily affected by the virus and we know that everything that reduces social interaction also reduces the speed of the spread of the virus. The less travel, the more we can contain the virus,” she explained.
“I propose to the heads of states of governments to introduce a temporary restriction on non-essential travel to the European Union. These travel restrictions should be in place for an initial period of 30 days which can be prolonged as necessary”.
Exemptions on the travel ban would include:
- Long term residents
- family members of EU nationals
- Diplomats
- “Essential staff” like doctors and health care workers
- People transporting goods
- So-called ‘frontier workers’ who commute across borders
“We will develop a temporary framework for state aid for all member states… this would allow the provision of state aid at unprecedented levels.”
For now, however, the proposed travel ban is no more than a proposal. The ban would need to be discussed and ratified by the European Union and no timeframe has been given for when this might be completed.
