Europe Seeks to Salvage Summer Vacation With a Plea for Unity
Europe Seeks to Salvage Summer Vacation With a Plea for Unity
(Bloomberg) --
The European Union’s executive arm pushed for a continent-wide revival of tourism with a series of policy recommendations for EU countries as they loosen lockdowns triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.
The European Commission guidelines cover everything from the removal of internal EU border restrictions to the use of mobile-phone tracing applications. With countries such as Spain planning quarantines for incoming travelers and others like Greece preparing to end such measures, the commission initiative risks being as politically toothless as it is economically important.
While EU countries long ago ceded decision-making powers in the trade, competition, monetary and other fields to European institutions, national capitals retain firm control over health policy. At the same time, the 27-nation bloc has a common interest in kick-starting tourism because it contributes around 10% to a European economy facing an unprecedented slump.
“We aim to create safe conditions in every mode of transport, to the extent possible, both for people traveling and for transport workers,” EU Transport Commissioner Adina Valean said in emailed statement on Wednesday in Brussels.
The initiative, meant to salvage part of the 2020 European summer-holiday season, reveals the delicate balance between restoring travel across the EU and limiting the risk of a resurgence in coronavirus cases.
Following are some of the commission’s main recommendations to EU national capitals. In certain cases, the commission could ultimately use its role as defender of the EU treaty and of European rules to pursue lawsuits against member countries that flout bloc-wide legal obligations.
Border Curbs
- A gradual and coordinated lifting of entry restrictions at frontiers with other EU countries
- Lingering limits should be proportionate and non-discriminatory. So, for example, an EU government shouldn’t apply a blanket entry ban on all residents of any other member nation but can limit border openings to people from regions within comparably low virus risks
Safety on Planes, Trains and Ships
- Distancing practices between passengers should be applied “where feasible”
- Face masks should be worn by travelers in transport hubs and vehicles
- Personal protective equipment should be worn by transport workers
- The removal at transport hubs of facilities such as benches and tables that encourage crowding
- Note: Still to come in this area for airlines is a more detailed safety protocol being drawn up jointly by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the European Aviation Safety Agency. This is due within days or weeks
Vouchers
- Travel vouchers offered by airlines to passengers whose flights have been canceled should be made more attractive through, for example, a minimum duration period of a year, the possibility to transfer them for free to other people and government protection against insolvency of the carriers
- NOTE: The commission is rejecting a demand by around half of EU governments to shore up the liquidity of airlines by scaling back their obligation to pay refunds for canceled flights. Rather, it’s standing firmly by a 2004 EU law that requires airlines to refund tickets for canceled flights within seven days unless affected passengers opt for another solution such as vouchers
Mobile-Phone Applications
- With the prospect of millions of smart phones in Europe being installed with voluntary applications that trace people who may have been exposed to the coronavirus, EU governments need to ensure that such technologies are interoperable
- Monitoring and testing should also take place
- NOTE: Because of the differing ways that EU countries are rolling out such apps, a person’s exposure traced on a phone in one member nation wouldn’t necessarily carry over into another if the individual traveled there. And the exchange of information among national authorities would be complicated
Still to Come
- An interactive map being prepared by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control on the epidemiological situations in regions across the EU. This is due in coming weeks
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