EU Delays Border Reopening Decision for Morocco and 13 Other Countries Amid COVID-19 Concerns

Diplomatic sources in Brussels announced this information on Saturday, June 27, regarding the postponement of the decision to reopen Europe’s borders to 14 countries. The ambassadors of the EU and Schengen area countries had proposed a list of about 15 countries, excluding the United States, on Friday.

The member states were called upon to vote by Saturday at the latest, but some asked the Croatian EU Presidency to give them more time. "Consultations are continuing and will continue until Monday," a European diplomatic source told AFP. "It is difficult to predict an outcome, but the Presidency hopes to be able to proceed to a vote on Monday," the same source specified.

The countries on the list of 14 selected meet several epidemiological criteria, including a rate of new Covid-19 cases close to or below 16 per 100,000 inhabitants (EU average) over the last 14 days, a stable or declining trend in new cases, and measures taken to fight the pandemic (testing practices, etc.).

The only problem is that many EU member states believe that the reliability of the epidemiological data provided by third countries, particularly China, is "problematic".