European officials spent most of Friday behind closed doors in heated debates about which countries to allow in, which not, and by what metrics; however, no results were achieved.
According to the EC spokesperson, the final list of countries was not agreed on throughout the past week. At the same time, the European Commission stresses that the states must agree among themselves on the list of countries, based on EU recommendations published as early as 11 June.
One of the criteria for reopening borders is that the number of COVID-19 cases should not exceed 16 per 100,000 of the population for at least two weeks in the country that the EU wants to open borders with.
The preliminary lists of countries, which were published earlier by some media outlets, did not include Russia, the United States, and Brazil. The Politico Europe news outlet published a list of 19 states over the weekend, which includes Algeria, Andorra, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, San Marino, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay, Vatican, and China.
On Monday, the EU member states will be required to submit written reports, after which a decision must be made by a qualified majority.
The final decision on the opening of borders is taken by the EU states on their own, but the European Commission has repeatedly advocated for a coordinated approach to this issue.
Greece, for example, has previously announced the lifting of travel restrictions for residents of several countries outside the European Union starting from 15 June.
