EU to reopen its borders to fully vaccinated travelers

By AFP 19 May 2021, 2:56 pm

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EU member states agree to reopen the bloc’s borders to travelers who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, European sources say.

Meeting in Brussels, diplomats also agree to increase the level of new cases a country can hit before being declared unsafe — a measure that would open up travel into the EU from more places.

The recommendations will be adopted by EU ministers on Friday, they say. An EU Commission spokesman confirms that the envoys endorsed the update to travel rules.

A waiter serves breakfast at the terrace of Paris’s landmark Cafe de Flore on May 19, 2021, as restaurant and bar terraces reopen (Bertrand GUAY / AFP)

Since March 2020, non-essential travel into the 27-member European Union has been banned, apart from a small number of countries deemed safe because of their low Covid case rate.