The Council of the European Union has agreed to lift temporary restrictions on non-essential travel into the EU for residents of 15 countries and four European microstates beginning Wednesday.
As previously reported, the United States was left off of the list as confirmed COVID-19 case numbers continue to rise.
The decision gives the green light to residents of Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay and China. However, the latter is subject to confirmation of reciprocity.
The council’s recommendation also includes Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican.
The list of countries will be reevaluated every two weeks and may be updated based on the criteria, which includes the number of new COVID-19 cases over the last two weeks per 100,000 inhabitants. According to The New York Times, the average among the 27 EU countries was 16 in mid-June compared to 107 in the U.S.
Nonetheless, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently confirmed that U.S. officials are “working with our European counterparts” to reopen trans-Atlantic travel, noting that there’s been “enormous destruction of wealth.”
In the meantime, EU citizens and their family members; long-term EU residents and their family members and essential travelers are exempted from the EU’s travel restrictions.