In an interview today with The New York Times in Brussels, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, indicated that American tourists who’ve been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 would be allowed to visit the European Union (E.U.) over the summer.
Such a policy shift would end the bloc’s ban on most nonessential travel from outside its borders, which has been upheld for more than a year. In terms of leisure travel, the E.U. has thus far granted entry only to visitors hailing from among a very short list of countries with low COVID-19 caseloads, including Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and South Korea.
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“The Americans, as far as I can see, use European Medicines Agency-approved vaccines,” said von der Leyen, referring to the three vaccines approved for emergency use in the United States, produced by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. All three have also been authorized by the E.M.A., the E.U.’s decentralized drug regulations agency.
“This will enable free movement and the travel to the European Union,” von der Leyen affirmed, adding, “Because one thing is clear: All 27 member states will accept, unconditionally, all those who are vaccinated with vaccines that are approved by E.M.A.”
She pointed to the U.S.’ rapid vaccination rate and progress toward achieving “herd immunity”, or 70 percent of the adult population being vaccinated by mid-June. She noted that resumption of travel between the E.U. and U.S. would also depend upon, “the epidemiological situation, but the situation is improving in the United States, as it is, hopefully, also improving in the European Union.”
Ms. von der Leyen intimated that the European Commission (the E.U.’s executive branch) will recommend the change in foreign travel policy accordingly, which could finally restore Transatlantic leisure travel.
The European Commission president did not provide a timeline as to when the 27-member bloc might begin welcoming U.S. leisure travelers or any details as to how this would be achieved. But, her comments constitute a solid signal that travel restrictions are soon to change and that the regulatory system will rely upon vaccination certificates.
Even conditionally opening the E.U.’s borders to Americans would help reboot the massive U.S. tourism market—a potential windfall for member nations like Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Croatia, whose economies rely heavily upon tourism and which normally host millions of American tourists every summer.