The EU Commission is pushing for uniform travel rules to replace the previous patchwork quilt. This is based on a traffic light system with the colors green, yellow and red. This could be decided on Tuesday in Brussels, but the nation states have the upper hand, because if an agreement is not reached, the patchwork will remain.

The Commission's proposal provides that the colors green and yellow do not require quarantine. If necessary, rapid tests could be carried out with yellow People entering from countries marked in red may have to present a negative PCR test or carry it out on site. What is decisive, however, is that the definition of what is a risk area at all is standardized. This is exactly what the EU Commission wants, because the nation states are currently setting this themselves and are difficult to compare. An example of this: Austria defines Varna and all of Bulgaria as a risk area, Germany lifted the travel warning for the Black Sea city. The European Center for Disease Control currently assumes that the restrictions can be lifted for 15 countries.

While most airlines are still keeping a low profile on the plans of the EU Commission, as a fierce debate is to be expected among the individual member states, Ryanair Managing Director Eddie Wilson spoke up: “We urge all EU governments to do this To adopt the EU traffic light system immediately. The European aviation and tourism industry cannot afford any more job losses and until a vaccine is available we must learn to live with the virus. Implementing this coordinated regional approach will help restore customer confidence before a difficult winter season and allow all airlines to plan for summer 2021, with millions of jobs depending on the recovery of our aviation and tourism industries. As confirmed by the WHO, aviation is not responsible for an increase in Covid rates in the EU and quarantines just don't work. The governments of the EU governments need to act quickly and put in place the EU's “traffic light” system immediately after next week's Council meeting and give Europe's tourism industries the much-needed relief ”.