Astypalea, Greece
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LONDON – Looking for a holiday in Greece or Spain? You could wait a while.
European leaders are expected to say on Thursday that all non-essential travel should be limited, as Covid’s health situation remains “serious” across the continent, according to a CNBC document.
The 27 heads of state of the European Union will meet virtually on Thursday afternoon to discuss the current state of the pandemic in the region. The EU remains one of the most affected parts of the world by the coronavirus, with some countries still closed or with strict social restrictions. At the same time, vaccination efforts have gotten off to a bumpy start and some question whether the EU will meet its target of vaccinating 70% of its adult population by summer.
“The epidemiological situation remains dire, and the new variants present additional challenges. We therefore need to maintain strict restrictions and step up efforts to speed up vaccine delivery,” the draft paper said.
According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, there have been more than 21 million cases and more than 515,000 deaths from Covid-19 in Europe to date. Since the end of 2020, health authorities have identified a number of new variants of the virus that are considered more spreadable and contagious.
The new varieties have become the dominant species in many Member States.
Charles Michel
President of the European Council
The ongoing health emergency is particularly acute in the Czech Republic and parts of Latvia, Sweden, Spain and Portugal.
Ahead of the meeting, Charles Michel, President of the European Council, who will chair the summits, said: “The new variants have become the dominant strains in many member states. This implies that we need to improve our sequencing capacity and prepare the basis for updating vaccines. . “
Given the health crisis, European leaders are not yet inclined to relax travel restrictions.
“For now, non-essential travel should be restricted,” the document said.
This will come as bad news for countries that rely heavily on tourism. Greece, for example, has urged the EU to agree on some sort of vaccine passport so that it can more easily reopen its tourism industry in time for the summer season.
However, the leaders seem to be far from agreeing with this idea for now. Some heads of state feel it is too early to consider a vaccination passport, as vaccine deployment is at such an early stage.
Rickard Gustafson, CEO of Scandinavian Airlines, told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe on Thursday that vaccine passports or similar identifications “can help reopen the world, but … I’m afraid this can’t be a national standard, it has to be an international standard. “
In addition, for this idea to work, Gustafson said it must be applied to “all other modes of transportation.”
“This is not just an aviation issue. This should be applied equally to all other modes of transport, because when you cross a border, it doesn’t really matter if you take it by plane, train, car or bus,” he said.
Introducing something like vaccine passports in Europe would be particularly challenging given free movement policies.
European citizens often use trains, buses and other means of transport to travel between EU countries and their passport is not checked during these trips. As such, having to verify vaccination certificates at the border would create significant logistical problems and could deter some potential tourists from traveling abroad.