British tourists to EU may have to quarantine even if vaccinated
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Fully vaccinated Britons could still be told to quarantine at their EU holiday destination due to concerns over the Covid variant first detected in India and a failure to allow Europeans to visit Britain freely, according to a policy agreed in Brussels.
Representatives of the 27 member states on Wednesday provisionally approved a change of the policy under which anyone from a non-EU country could travel if they were able to prove they had been fully vaccinated.
Should a European country waive the need for tests and quarantine for those travelling from another EU member state, it was also agreed that this burden should be lifted for those coming from “third countries”, such as the UK, who have been inoculated.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, paved the way for the change of policy last month when she told the New York Times that fully vaccinated US citizens would be able to travel even though the infection rate remained high in the US.
But the full unpublished text of the agreement, seen by the Guardian and awaiting approval of ministers, still contains a significant dual threat to British hopes of a summer holiday in a European tourist destination.
The agreed text says that EU member states are to take into account whether the government of a non-EU country is permitting their citizens entry without the need to quarantine or an obligation to take PCR tests.
As it stands, every EU country apart from Portugal is on the UK government’s amber list. Those coming from a country on the amber list must quarantine for 10 days at the place where they are staying, and take a Covid-19 test on or before day two and on or after day eight.
The EU’s new policy suggests that UK travellers could face similar constraints should there not be an update of the government’s policy. It reads: “Where member states decide to lift restrictions for travellers in possession of a valid proof of a Covid-19 vaccination, member states should on a case-by-case basis take into account reciprocity granted to the EU+ area.”
Photo: Passengers at Heathrow airport in London, Britain. EPA-EFE/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA
