Let's start preparing for summer. This is the message launched on 3 May by the European Commission in a note in which it asks the Member States to ease existing restrictions on non-essential travel. The purpose is clear: revive tourism in view of the summer, a crucial period of the year for the turnover of companies in the sector, grappling with the serious difficulties caused by the pandemic and national lockdowns. Suffice it to say that according to Confcommercio, for the first time after twenty-five years of uninterrupted growth, the share of added value of the Italian tertiary sector has decreased (-9,6% compared to 2019) mainly due to the decline recorded by the tourism chain ( -40,1% for accommodation and catering services), followed by the sector of artistic, entertainment and leisure activities (-27%) and transport (-17,1%). We must therefore hurry and allow these sectors to restart. Summer is an opportunity not to be missed.
Brussels has proposed to allow entry into the Union for non-essential reasons not only to all people from countries with a good epidemiological situation, but also to all people who have received the second dose of one of the licensed vaccines by EMA, the European medicines agency. Member States could also allow entry to citizens who have been administered a vaccine that has completed the WHO emergency use listing process. In deciding which strategy to implement for the summer season, we must therefore take into account the progress of vaccination campaigns, but also of developments in the global epidemiological situation.
However, there is also another aspect to take into consideration: the variants. The latest is the Indian one which is bringing a country with 1,3 billion inhabitants to its knees and on which, for the moment, we have very little information. We don't know if it's more contagious, if it's more lethal, but above all we have no idea of the effectiveness our vaccines could have against it. “Given that the emergence of worrying variants of the coronavirus requires continued vigilance, as a counterbalance to the proposal to ease restrictions on non-essential travel, the European Commission proposes a new “emergency brake” mechanism”, to be coordinated at EU level and which would limit the risk of these variants entering the Union”, reads the note from the Community Executive.
The press release was immediately taken up by the president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who wrote on Twitter: “It's time to revive the tourism industry and restart border friendships safely. We propose to welcome back vaccinated visitors and those from countries with a good health situation. But if variants emerge we must act quickly: we propose an EU emergency brake mechanism”.
The innovations proposed by Brussels will be easier to apply when the European green pass (different from the Italian one), the digital document designed to facilitate travel within the Union which should officially debut on June 30 in the most "technologically prepared" countries, including Italy.
Speaking of the individual Member States, after the reopening decided by Italy, important news has arrived today from the Greece, one of the main tourist destinations in Europe. From today, bars and restaurants are reopening after a six-month closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, while the curfew is postponed from 22pm to 23pm. From May 14, the country will reopen to tourism from abroad.
Good news also from Germany where, according to Bild, the parliamentary groups of the government parties have reached an agreement which plans to loosen the restrictions for the immunized as early as next weekend. In detail, the immunized will no longer have to respect the curfew, show negative tests to access services and shops. There will no longer be any quarantine obligation, while unrestricted meetings will be allowed.
(Last update at 17.28 on May 3).
