COVID-19: Italy Opens Borders To EU Members

By Moses Godonu

The Italian Government is set to open borders to all European Union countries with no mandatory quarantine required from June 3.

Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte has said that its borders will now be open to all European Union countries with no mandatory quarantine required from June 3, as part of efforts to relaunch the country’s economy.

Conte made this known to the country’s lower house of parliament on Thursday.

It could be recall that Conte had on May 13 blasted the EU’s proposal to allow “tourist corridors” between nations in the bloc with similar epidemiological conditions.

“We will not accept bilateral accords within the European Union that might create privileged tourist channels,” he said at the time.

“That would leave us outside the European Union and we will never allow this.”

Also, on May 16 Conte said that “if the data continue to be encouraging” Italian borders would be open to those from within the EU’s Schengen Zone, but the country’s stance on a mandatory quarantine for travelers was unclear.

Conte’s announcement came with clarification and confirmation on Thursday extending the open borders policy to the entire EU bloc. Britons, who are now outside the EU.

He also confirmed that no quarantine would be necessary for EU travelers.

The Italian Prime Minister did not say what would happen if the contagion rate started to climb.

Different sources have also confirmed that the point of mandatory quarantine has been the subject matter behind the scenes debate in recent days.

“We must accept this risk and we cannot stop and wait for a vaccine,” Conte said.

“Otherwise we would never be in a position to relaunch again and we would find ourselves with a productive and social fabric inevitably compromised.”

The Prime Minister in his announcement emphasized the necessity of following all the given precautionary measures by everyone who enter into the country; he said all must wear face-mask and observe social distancing.

CNN