When will the Russians be allowed into Europe?
The EU Council approved a recommendation to ease restrictions on travel to Schengen countries from third countries with a compromise of 75 new cases per 100,000 population.
Whether Russia will be on the EU’s green list will be known in the next two weeks.
The issue of allowing non-EU travellers to enter the EU for non-essential purposes has been a key issue for European tourism for months.
Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Croatia have unilaterally opened their borders to visitors from third countries, but a guide to action for the rest of the bloc is a common EU decision.
On Friday, the EU Council approved a recommendation to ease restrictions on travel to the Schengen area from third countries, updating the entry criteria for them.
Under previous conditions, third countries were safe if they reported fewer than 25 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the past two weeks. As a result, a compromise was approved: no more than 75 cases per 100,000 people.
From 3 to 16 may in Russia recorded more than 86 cases of coronavirus infection per 100 thousand population. A week earlier, this figure was almost 75 cases. That is, Russia is close to the “pass point” of the European Union.
Other criteria for inclusion in the EU Green List remain unchanged: the number of new diseases should decrease or be stable, and the data provided by the country on the epidemiological situation should be reliable. It takes into account the number of tests made in the country for coronavirus.
The last time the EU Green List was updated was on 6 May 2021: Israel joined the pool of countries whose citizens are allowed to enter the EU, now Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore, Rwanda, Thailand and China.
Travellers from non-European countries who have been vaccinated with vaccines approved by the EU or WHO are eligible to enter the EU. One of the EU-registered vaccines is BioNTech/Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. There are chances for certification of the Russian drug Sputnik V in the European Union and the WHO.
Malta’s Foreign and European Affairs Minister Evariste Bartolo said the European Medicines Agency (EMA) could register the Russian vaccine by the end of June.
Source: atorus