EU Likely to Allow Restriction-free Travel for the Vaccinated this Summer

Photo source: European Commission

Vaccinated travelers may soon be able to travel restriction-free across the EU after member states agreed on Friday to ease restrictions.

Reuters reports that the decision which will allow cross-border tourism for vaccinated travelers was reached during an EU ambassadors meeting on Friday.

Officials approved a revised European Commission proposal which foresees that those who are fully vaccinated for 14 days should be able to travel freely within the Union.

According to the report, restrictions applying to other travelers will be decided based on Covid-19 infection and vaccination rates in source countries.

The modified regulation come weeks ahead of the launch of the EU Covid-19 certificate on July 1 set to facilitate safe travel among member states for holders. The digital or paper document will indicate whether a traveler has been fully vaccinated, holds a negative PCR test result, or has recovered from Covid.

Photo source: European Commission

According to Reuters, as national vaccination campaigns progress, the EU is expected ease the traffic light color-coding system used to represent Covid risk across the Union.

Under the new system, there will be no restrictions for people traveling from a green zone, a possible test requirement for those coming from orange zone areas, and potential quarantine measures for those traveling from red territories.

Non-essential travel is discouraged for dark red areas.

Children over 12 could also be tested but will be required to self-isolate only in the instance that an accompanying adult has been infected.

It should be noted that if the epidemiological situation of a region worsens quickly and in particular if a variant of concern is detected, a member state can immediately and temporarily suspend all inbound travel from that area.

The  plan will also apply to non-EU members of the Schengen zone (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland), but not to Britain.