Macron: EU Schengen Zone Might Remain Closed Until September
French President Emmanuel Macron has reportedly said that EU member states are considering to keep the external borders of the Schengen Zone closed until September due to the corona virus.
Borders
Currently the external borders of Europe’s Schengen Zone are shut for all non-essential traffic. The only exceptions granted are basically all for essential workers, cargo operations and repatriation flights.
As long as the borders remain closed, a measure which was introduced to stop the spread of the corona virus (COVID-19) disease, it means that not a single person can enter the Schengen Zone for tourist purposes.
Macron
According to French President Emmanuel Macron, the current measures could be extended until after the summer tourist season.
In a conference call with trade union representatives, the French President reportedly raised the possibility that the external Schengen borders could remain closed for six more months.
Corona development
According to local media, the measure is currently being discussed among the leaders of EU nation states which are part of the Schengen zone.
The reason why the borders would remain closed is that the corona virus does “not affect all countries at the same time” and that even in the case of France getting the disease under control, the country could still relapse if travellers from other affected parts of the world would visit the country.
Tourist season
Although nothing has yet been decided, it would obviously be a hard blow for the already struggling transport and hospitality industry if no foreign visitors are allowed into the Schengen Zone.
Similarly, it would be a similar hard blow for anyone living outside the Schengen Area who hopes to visit one of the Schengen countries this summer.
Not the time for travel
Even though there are people who are confident that the corona crisis will pass soon, we at Paliparan still think it is way too early to predict what the situation will be in the summer months.
Our current policy is to refrain from travel and booking any future trip and to simply wait until the situation gets more clear.
Great deals
That said, there are currently some great flight deals around for travel in the summer, autumn and even winter months of 2021.
Booking such flights comes with a certain risk, but if you look carefully into change and refund details of tickets (some airlines allow nowadays for free date changes and refunds) those risks can be mitigated.
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