5 September 2020:: Update from a post lockdown Europe

For many of us who have to move around Europe on a weekly basis, the cacophony of national rules to fight the coronavirus pandemic makes things very complicated. We need things to be made simpler! Therefore, I’m welcoming the European Commission’s attempt to untangle the web of different travel restrictions in the European Union. Member States currently use different criteria for imposing travel restrictions, but the Commission would like them to base future decisions on common thresholds that take into account the recent number of infections, the percentage of positive tests and the total number of tests carried out. According to the proposal national authorities must send this data to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), which will then publish a map with common color codes every week. An area of high coronavirus circulation colored red on the European map will then be automatically colored red for all Member States. Green zones should not be subject to travel restrictions. It remains to be seen to what extent the various countries will accept these recommendations. Let’s hope that common sense will prevail – Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany.