COVID-19: EU to remove Serbia, Montenegro from coronavirus safe list, sources say
The decision was proposed by Germany, which holds the EU presidency, at a meeting late on Monday and was supported by several states, including France, Spain and the Netherlands, officials told Reuters.
It needs to be formally confirmed by EU diplomats at a meeting later on Tuesday. The list is only a recommendation. Not all EU countries are applying its provisions.
The two Balkan countries were set to be removed because of spreading infections, officials said.
On Monday, Hungary's operative board in charge of containing the epidemic has advised the government to classify countries as “red”, “yellow” and “green”, based on the severity of the situation in each. Serbia is in the yellow category (anyone who comes to Hungary from any of these countries will be quarantined, but may leave the quarantine after the first negative test. Two negative tests are needed in a case where they arrived from a country in the red category.) Montenegro is classified in the most risky red category.
EU countries also discussed removing Algeria and Morocco from the list due to a rise in cases, but most opposed the move because numbers there are still relatively low. The two north African countries are therefore set to remain on the safe list.
Luxembourg and Cyprus supported the inclusion on the list of the United Arab Emirates based on data provided by Cyprus, but other countries opposed it, officials said.
Proposals from Cyprus to add Israel, Libya and Jordan to the list were also dropped.
After the exclusion of Serbia and Montenegro, 13 countries will remain on the list. They are: Algeria, Australia, Canada, China, Georgia, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay.
Despite being on the list, travel from China will be allowed only if Chinese authorities also allow in EU visitors. The reciprocity requirement is not applied in the case of the other listed countries.
Cover photo: Getty Images
