EU advises against all non-essential trips to Portugal

The European Union (UE) advises non-essential travel to the whole of mainland Portugal. These restrictive measures also include mainland Spain, several regions of Italy and countries of Central and Northern Europe.

– “This is not the time for tourist travel”, warns European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders. Executive asks Member States to tighten restrictions to curb contagion with new variants.

These countries and regions are, para já, those that are covered by the new dark red color that the European Commission added to the map of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, reflecting the epidemiological situation and the evolution of the pandemic in Europe.

The supplementary category identifies regions where the number of new cases of infection with the new coronavirus is equal to or greater than 500 per hundred thousand inhabitants, and where there is a high risk of new contagions associated with the new variants that have been spreading in European territory, explained on Monday Commissioner Didier Reynders.

Given the high risk, the Community executive proposes that Member States reinforce measures to restrict and condition movements to and from these regions, requiring PCR testing prior to departure and mandatory quarantine upon arrival, and discouraging all non-essential travel.

The message from the European authorities could not be clearer: “The risk of traveling has increased, and for this reason only travel that is considered essential should be authorized ”, stressed the commissioner.

Didier Reynders, and his colleague responsible for the Home Affairs portfolio, Ylva Johansson, underlined that this “discouragement” must be done both in terms of movements between regions and trips abroad, within the European space, “We cannot risk disruptions to essential travel, for example of cross-border workers, nor supplying the single market ”, afirmou.

The Brussels recommendation for the Member States is to adopt additional testing and quarantine measures as soon as possible.

Ylva Johansson said that the Commission defends the obligation to carry out a PCR test 72 hours before taking any trip, and recommends repeating this test on arrival, after compliance with a mandatory quarantine.

As regards third country inflows, the rules should be even stricter. In this case, Brussels believes that access should be temporarily banned for all travelers who do not have a proven and compelling reason to enter the EU. “The priority must be to minimize transmission. The new measures we propose today include tests for all passengers and, Additionally, for those coming from countries where the new variants have been detected, isolation for a period of 14 days and a new test ”, reported.

Some of these measures are now required by several EU countries, including for trips within the community. But the restrictions are not uniform - not even the use of the form distributed to passengers (Passenger Locator Form) It is generalized to us 27 Estados-membros. The Commission said on Monday that it is still looking at the best way to make this document mandatory.

Regarding travel restrictions, there are also different approaches from national authorities. Asked about the decision that has already been announced by the Government of Belgium, which banned all non-essential travel until next March, the justice commissioner recalled that even in the exercise of his national powers (as is the case with border management) Member States must ensure that their measures “must be proportionate in nature, necessary and non-discriminatory ”.