The EU Council has officially recommended to lift travel restrictions on 15 countries when external borders reopen from July 1.
An EU diplomatic source reportedly confirmed to Euronews earlier Tuesday that the draft list of 15 countries has enough votes to pass.
The final list the countries for which Europe's borders will be open does not include Tajikistan.
The final list reportedly includes Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay
China is on the list but only in the event that EU citizens are allowed to travel there as well.
Residents of Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican should be considered as EU residents for the purpose of this recommendation, according to the European Council.
The list has already aroused controversy after sources revealed that the United States – the worst-affected country worldwide by COVID-19 with more than 2.6 million cases, is not on the list of approved countries.
The final list also does not include Brazil, the US and Russia.
The EU said the list was decided based on the number of new COVID-19 cases over the last 14 days, the overall trend of COVID-19 cases and government handling of the crisis.
The European Council said on June 30 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.
For countries where travel restrictions continue to apply, the following categories of people should be exempted from the restrictions: EU citizens and their family members; long-term EU residents and their family members; and travelers with an essential function or need, as listed in the Recommendation.
Recall, Tajikistan was on a draft list of countries that were supposed to be allowed to enter EU when borders open.
Euronews reported on June 26 that “locked away in a meeting room in Brussels, officials are debating who will be allowed to enter the European Union (EU) on July 1 when the bloc's international borders are scheduled to be opened – and who will be forbidden.”
There were reportedly two lists, one for those that will be accepted, and one for those who will not.
Euronews reportedly obtained, from EU diplomatic sources, the full draft list of the countries for which Europe's borders will be open.
There were 54 countries, including Tajikistan, on the list of countries whose nationals were supposed to be allowed to enter Europe.
