The council wrote that it “adopted a recommendation on the gradual lifting of the temporary restrictions on non-essential travel into” the European Union, adding that “travel restrictions should be lifted for countries listed in the recommendation, with this list being reviewed and, as the case may be, updated every two weeks.”
Travel restrictions should be lifted for Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, and Uruguay, according to a news release from the group. The restrictions should be lifted starting on July 1.
In addition, China could be included if it allows travelers from the EU.
EU citizens and their family members are exempt from the restrictions and can travel back to the bloc, while residents of Monaco, Andorra, Vatican City, and San Marino should be considered residents of the EU for the purpose of the recommendation. Schengen-associated countries such as Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland can partake.
The United Kingdom was left off the European Council list. The UK left the EU in January 2020.
Russia, India, and Brazil were also left off the European Council’s list.
President Donald Trump in March suspended the entry of all people from the EU in a decree after cases in Italy and Spain started to rise.
“This is not an exercise to be nice or unfriendly to other countries, this is an exercise of self-responsibility,” Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya told Spain’s Cadena SER radio on Monday, according to reports.
Reports have noted that Americans make up a large portion of the EU’s tourism industry, and more than 15 million Americans travel to Europe every year, while about 10 million Europeans travel to the United States.