Brussels wants to extend EU travel ban amid virus

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) - The European Commission proposed on Wednesday to prolong restriction on travel to the EU until May 15 due to coronavirus pandemic.

EU countries on March 17 adopted a 30-day restriction of non-EU nationals’ entry to the bloc’s territory to contain the spread of the virus.

Only health workers and researchers from non-EU countries could travel to the EU since then.

The European Commission has now proposed to extend the deadline to make sure that all measures against the pandemic reach their full impact.

Technically, it is the member states who need to coordinate their steps and impose travel restrictions because the EU does not have legal competence to impose such measures.

The institution argued that travel restrictions to the bloc can only be effective if they are respected by all member states.

The extension requires coordination between 30 countries, including four EU members who have not yet joined the Schengen area (namely Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and the Greek Cypriot administration), and four non-EU members of the borderless zone (Norway, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, and Iceland).

The countries are expected to decide on the prolonged measures in the upcoming weeks, but it is unclear at this point if the proposal would win the support of all governments since some EU countries are planning on gradually getting back to normal life as of next week.

Since the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 emerged last December in China's Wuhan city, it has spread to at least 184 countries and regions.

There are more than 1.45 million confirmed cases worldwide, with over 83,500 deaths, and above 308,700 recoveries, according to data compiled by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.