The EU-27 have agreed to include Japan in the shortlist of countries with which it will have unrestricted borders because it does not pose a serious risk for the spread of the coronavirus, but have left out the UK despite some member states proposing its inclusion in recent days.
This was decided this Wednesday by ambassadors to the EU in a decision that is still to be formalised by written procedure by the members states or at a meeting of ministers later this week, and which is in accordance with the periodic review of this list carried out by member states.
Only the inclusion of Japan was on the table, as the option of also including the UK failed in earlier technical discussions, due to doubts about new variants in spite of the country’s high vaccination rate.
In July last year the EU-27 agreed to create a list of countries to which travel considered “non-essential” would be allowed because their epidemiological situation was equal to or better than that of the EU. The aim was to gradually restart non-EU tourism, but the difficulties in controlling the pandemic left this project with fewer than ten permitted destinations.
However, it is a recommendation that the member states agreed to follow in order to avoid the chaos of the first months of the pandemic due to the lack of coordination between countries, but it is not mandatory, as border control is the exclusive responsibility of national governments.
The EU-27 wants to reopen its external border to tourists who are fully vaccinated with one of the serums authorised by the EU or the World Health Organisation, but it also has this list of countries to which it allows travel.