May 15, 2020 - Schengen Visa

Germany and France have agreed to open their common borders by 15 June 2020. After receiving the news, Switzerland has also announced that some of their borders will be opening with neighboring countries on the same date.

The German Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer and French Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner reached an agreement that will allow for the reopening of shared borders between the two Schengen Member States, according to a press release published by the French Federal Government. The reopening of borders will be a gradual and coordinated process between French and German law enforcement.

“By June 15, the two ministers, anxious to facilitate the daily life of cross-border workers, have agreed on the principle of continuing the coordinated and gradual opening of border crossing points. The permanent static checks carried out so far by French and German law enforcement will gradually give way to dynamic and targeted checks, to ensure traffic flow without weakening the restrictions which will remain in force,” the press release reads.

Crossing the Franco-German border after the relaxing of border checks will require less paperwork and documentation and will only require a single Franco-German certificate.

Germany has also talked of relaxing its border control measures with Denmark, however, there has not been an official date released. The border checks between Germany and Luxembourg are scheduled to end on 15 May.

According to a press release published by the Swiss Government, they have decided to open their borders with Germany, Austria, and France on 15 June as well.

“Over the past few days, Federal Councilor Keller-Sutter has discussed a further move to relax measures in several telephone conversations with the interior ministers of Germany, France and Austria, Horst Seehofer, Christophe Castaner and Karl Nehammer. All three countries, like Switzerland, are currently in a transitional phase and in a comparable epidemiological situation,” the press release reads.

This, of course, takes into consideration that the epidemiological situation allows for the action to take place.

“Any move to relax measures is, of course, dependent on continued improvements in the epidemiological situation. This, in turn, depends on the population continuing to comply fully with the rules on hygiene and social distancing,” the press release reads.

The reopening of Swiss borders will allow people to freely travel across them. On 29 April, the Swiss Federal Council had decided to implement the relaxation of border checks, and the first measures went into effect on 11 May.

The European Commission has released guidance for how to safely get Europe’s tourism and travel industries going once again, as the world transitions from lockdown to resume business as usual.

According to the press release, the guidance will include an overall strategy for recovery; a common approach to restoring free movement; a framework for the re-establishment of transportation; a recommendation to increase the value of travel vouchers; and criteria for restoring tourism activities gradually and safely.

According to the press release, free movement between Member States is key to a healthy tourism and travel industry. It also states that blanket precautions will be replaced by more targeted measures for containment, and that epidemiological situations between Member States should be taken into consideration.

“Free movement and cross-border travel are key to tourism. As Member States manage to reduce the circulation of the virus, blanket restrictions to free movement should be replaced by more targeted measures. If a generalized lifting of restrictions is not justified by the health situation, the Commission proposes a phased and coordinated approach that starts by lifting restrictions between areas or Member States with sufficiently similar epidemiological situations. The approach must also be flexible, including the possibility to reintroduce certain measures if the epidemiological situation requires,” the press release reads.

The EC detailed that Member States should act on the following criteria for reintroducing free movement across borders for purposes of tourism and travel:

Epidemiological, focusing on areas with high-risk of infection
The ability to apply containment measures throughout the whole journey
Economic and social considerations, initially prioritizing cross-border movement in key areas of activity

To safely resume tourism services like hotels and other forms of accommodation, the EC detailed criteria for business owners and government officials in the area, including epidemiological evidence, sufficient capacity in healthcare systems, and surveillance for contact tracing.

“These guidelines will allow people to safely stay at hotels, camping sites, Bed & Breakfasts or other holiday accommodation establishments, eat and drink at restaurants, bars and cafés and go to beaches and other leisure outdoor areas,” the press release reads.

The press release also made sure to specify that location-tracking apps used for things like contact tracing should be “voluntary, transparent, temporary, cybersecure, using anonymized data,” and should be Bluetooth compatible as well as operating across borders.

Finally, the EC stated in the release that they recognize the right to choose cash reimbursement for cancelled travel instead of vouchers but lay out a plan to make vouchers more attractive to customers who could receive them.

“While reaffirming this right, the Commission’s recommendation aims to ensure that vouchers become a viable and more attractive alternative to reimbursement for cancelled trips in the context of the current pandemic, which has also put heavy financial strains on travel operators. The voluntary vouchers should be protected against insolvency of the issuer, with a minimum validity period of 12 months, and be refundable after at most one year, if not redeemed. They should also provide passengers sufficient flexibility, should allow the passengers to travel on the same route under the same service conditions or the travelers to book a package travel contract with the same type of services or of equivalent quality. They should also be transferable to another traveler,” the press release reads.

It is still not yet known exactly when the tourism industry will be back in its entirety.

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