The White House does not intend to remove the entry restrictions on travellers from the European Union and Schengen Area countries, for now, a US official has confirmed.
On Friday, June 25, the US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken cut off the hopes of millions that the US could, within days, reciprocate the EU’s move to reopen the borders.
Commenting on the existing entry ban on EU nationals at a news conference in Paris, Secretary Blinken said that it would be “premature”, and as such, the US is set to refrain from doing the same, at least for now.
“We are anxious to be able to restore travel as fully and quickly as possible. I can’t put a date on it, we have to be guided by the science, by medical expertise,” the Secretary said, who travelled to France this week to meet with French leaders, President Emmanuel Macron and Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
The European Union Council has recommended to the Member States to reopen the borders for US travellers, both vaccinated and non-vaccinated, on June 18. The recommendation has been followed with concrete action by several countries, including Germany, France, Switzerland, Denmark, and more, which now permit travellers for the US to enter their territory for non-essential purposes.
Only this week, the European Union’s top diplomat in Washington, Stravos Lambridindinis, has urged the US to end entry restrictions for EU passport holders, noting that it is a “mistake” to keep European business executives from overseeing their investments in the US.
Lambridinis made such statements during a virtual trade event, in which he also said that the EU and US have to kickstart their together economies again, noting that 60 per cent of foreign investment in the US come from European countries.
Airlines for America, an airlines industry group, has also criticized the US for not undertaking any steps to end the entry ban on EU nationals.
Katherine Estep, a spokesperson for Airlines for America, said that the group continues to urge the US government to adopt a reciprocal policy backed by science that allows travellers who are fully vaccinated or who have presented a negative COVID-19 test to travel to the US.
“The science is there, and it is time – if not past time – to take action,” Estep said, adding that the US airlines have been and continue to be strong advocates for the development of a risk-based, data-driven roadmap for resuming international travel.
According to Our World in Data figures, the US has so far fully vaccinated 151,252,034 people while 178,491,147 have received at least their first shot, which is more than half of its population. On the other hand, 57.9 per cent of the adults in the EU/EEA countries have received at least their first shot, while 34.9% of them have been fully vaccinated, data by the Europen Centre for Disease and Control show.