Blinken says EU-US travel restrictions to be lifted ‘soon as possible’

President Joe Biden’s administration is working on the lifting of Covid-19 travel restrictions imposed on EU citizens but it is premature to put a date on any such move, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.

“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,” Blinken told a news conference in Paris alongside his French counterpart.

The EU and the United States are “redoubling efforts to achieve visa reciprocity and open up post-COVID travel,” Margaritis Schinas, vice president of the European Commission for Promoting the European Way of life, said on social media. Four EU member states are still not on the US Visa Waiver Program.

He underlined that Europe is the most vaccinated continent in the world, and that the scheduled July 1 launch of the EU Digital COVID Certificate will restore mobility within the Schengen area.

Mayorkas confirmed that Washington also aims to ease the travel restrictions and that it will take into account the public health data at its disposal and the epidemiological situation in the EU and will make decisions accordingly.

The EU has added the United States to its “white list” of countries that are deemed to be safe for non-essential travel.

“We’ve reopened the border to the U.S. and we’ll see if it’s possible to agree on reciprocity,” European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders said before the meeting.

European Union (EU) officials said on Tuesday they hoped an agreement can be reached with the United States on the reciprocal lifting of travel restrictions in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic following their meeting with US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas in Lisbon, Portugal.