People who have been vaccinated against coronavirus are not yet guaranteed entry to the European Union. The head of the foreign policy department of the bloc, Josep Borrell, stated.

According to the European diplomat, after the appearance of new coronavirus strains in Brussels, they decided to introduce additional precautions for visitors to the European Union. He noted that “at the moment, vaccination is not considered a sufficiently reliable parameter.”

Borrell said that European countries hope to open their borders as soon as possible. Still, it is impossible to predict when everyone will be allowed to travel to the European Union.

The EU began opening the external borders it closed in March 2020, on July 1. At first, the list of countries from which entry was allowed was 14 states; after half a month, their number decreased to 12.

As of January 28, only six countries are on the list: Australia, New Zealand, Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand. The European Union is ready to allow Chinese citizens to enter if Beijing agrees to give the same rights to EU residents.

The EU noted that the recommendations on the opening of borders are not mandatory, and each country should decide.

In the European Union, it is recommended to allow entry from third countries if they register no more than 25 new cases of infection per 100 thousand people in the last two weeks, the incidence is steadily decreasing during this period in relation to the previous one and make at least 300 tests per 100 thousand people in the last week. At the same time, the number of positive tests should not exceed 4%. Also, it takes into account which strains of coronavirus are present in a particular country.

Due to the emergence of new variants of the coronavirus, France and the Czech Republic at the end of January introduced additional entry restrictions from both EU countries and outside it. Only foreigners who study, work, or have a residence permit are allowed to enter the Czech Republic. In France, the entry and exit from the European Union were completely closed.