Nothing very concrete, alas. These are guidelines, frameworks, for countries to apply measures in accordance with European law.
The European Commission is preparing to present recommendations on Wednesday to save the summer season of the tourism sector, severely impacted by the coronavirus crisis, encouraging European states to gradually and concertedly reopen the internal borders they have closed.
According to a document of which the AFP and DPA agencies have obtained a copy, the Commission insists that this reopening must be done “concerted“,”as harmonious as possible“and “non-discriminatory“.
Simple recommendations
These are simple recommendations from the European executive, as it is up to the countries to decide to lift these controls and restrictions put in place to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. And in reality, no date or opening of borders will be recommended in detail. These are just guidelines for each country to do things right.
The community executive advocates, for example, that when countries are in a comparable epidemiological situation and have adopted the same precautionary measures, they should be treated in the same way.
If, for example, Austria opens its borders with Germany, it must also do so for the Czech Republic if that country is in a situation comparable to Germany.
Likewise, when a country opens its borders with another country, it must do so for all the inhabitants of that country, whether they have their nationality or not.
The Commission recommends that the Member States take their decisions on the basis of a health assessment of the situation in each country and communicating with each other.
This question of restoring freedom of movement within the Schengen area is crucial for European tourism, a sector which represents 10% of the EU’s GDP and 12% of employment. In some southern European countries, such as Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal, this proportion is even higher and if summer visitors stayed far from their shores, their already bad economic situation could still get worse.
The thorny issue of refunds
In its recommendations, the Commission also addresses the thorny issue of whether or not to reimburse canceled trips and stays.
According to EU regulations, the European consumer is entitled to claim a refund, but many operators and airlines prefer to offer a credit to their customers.
“Carriers and tour operators should follow a common approach, offering passengers and travelers an attractive choice between a cash refund, in accordance with their rights under European law, or the acceptance of a voucher” , indicates the document.
“In order to encourage passengers and travelers to accept vouchers instead of a refund, vouchers should be protected against the insolvency of the issuer and be refundable after one year maximum”, adds the Commission.
At the end of April, twelve European countries, including France, had asked the Commission to suspend the obligation imposed on airlines to reimburse passengers whose journeys were canceled because of the coronavirus, to support a sector hit hard by the crisis.
The Commission intends to send a letter to all member states to remind them of European legislation on this issue, according to a source familiar with the matter.
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