Commission prefers coordinated approach for tourism reopening
The European Union is finalizing plans to allow tourists from the United States to travel to the 27-nation bloc this summer, officials said on Monday.
More than a year after the EU restricted travel to the region to a bare minimum in a bid to contain the pandemic, the European Commission said it would make a recommendation to member-states to allow American travelers back; spokesman Adalbert Jahnz told reporters that the Commission is hoping to restore nonessential “transatlantic travel as soon as it is safe to do so.”
Greece, which is heavily reliant on tourism, has already lifted quarantine restrictions for the US, Britain, the United Arab Emirates, Serbia, Israel, and non-EU members Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland that are part of a European travel pact.
“Unilateral approaches, from our perspective, should be avoided,” Jahnz said. “The objective is to continue to have a coordinated approach on the European level.” [AP]
