Europe could have its free travel zone up and running again by the end of the month, but travellers from further afield will not be allowed in before July, European Union Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said Friday after talks among the bloc’s interior ministers.
Panicked by the coronavirus outbreak in Italy in February, countries in the 26-nation Schengen area — where people and goods move freely without checks — imposed border restrictions without consulting their neighbours to try to keep the disease out. The moves caused traffic jams and blocked medical equipment.
Free movement is a jewel in Europe’s crown which helps business flourish, and many European officials feared that the very future of the Schengen area was at threat from the restrictions. These added to pressures already caused by the arrival in Europe of well over 1 million migrants in 2015.
“I personally believe that we will return to a full functioning of the Schengen area and freedom of movement of citizens no later than the end of the month of June,” Johansson told reporters after the video-conference meeting.
She said Europe’s Centre for Disease Prevention and Control believes that confinement and other health measures are working. The center says that more than 168,000 people have been killed by the coronavirus in Europe, mostly in Britain, Italy, France and Spain.