LONDON: Britain will end coronavirus quarantines for people arriving in England from more than 50 countries, including Germany, France, Spain and Italy - but not the United States - the government said on Friday.
The move, effective July 10, clears the way for millions of British tourists to take summer holidays without worrying about being quarantined when they return. Those arriving from higher risk countries will still have to self-quarantine for 14 days under a rule which has angered airlines and travel companies.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government had debated for days how to ease the quarantine rules. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which set their own health policies within the United Kingdom, have not announced plans to lift the measures.
"Today marks the next step in carefully reopening our great nation," Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said.
As the spread of the novel coronavirus slows in Europe, countries are reopening travel after more than three months of lockdown.
The full list of countries was published here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-travel-corridors
Australia, New Zealand and Japan are included, as are Caribbean tourist destinations such as the Bahamas and Barbados, but popular holiday destination Portugal was not on the list. Nor were the United States, China, India or Russia.
"The US from a very early stage banned flights from the UK and from Europe so there isn't a reciprocal arrangement in place," Shapps said.
Britain's foreign ministry also set out exemptions from a global advisory against "all but essential" international travel, from July 4, a key to normal insurance being valid.
The government said it expected countries included on the quarantine-free list to reciprocate by relaxing their own restrictions.
The move to ditch the quarantine prompted three of Europe's biggest airlines, British Airways, Ryanair and easyJet to end a legal challenge against the government.
Britain, with the highest COVID-19 death toll in Europe, is slowly reopening its economy. England and Northern Ireland will reopen pubs this weekend, and Scotland and Wales are expected to follow later in July.
Johnson has warned people to maintain social distancing rules and is expected to repeat that caution at a news conference on Friday.
"Anyone who flouts social distancing and COVID-secure rules is not only putting us all at risk but letting down those businesses and workers who have done so much to prepare for this new normal," he will say.
Beaches beckon as England to end quarantine for more than 50 countries
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Beaches beckon as England to end quarantine for more than 50 countries
- Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will each announce their own separate rules
- The government said it expected countries included on the quarantine-free list to reciprocate by relaxing their own restrictions
France’s Le Pen insists party acted in ‘good faith’ at EU fraud appeal
- Le Pen said on her second day of questioning that even if her party broke the law, it was unintentional
- She also argued that the passage of time made it “extremely difficult” for her to prove her innocence
PARIS: French far-right leader Marine Le Pen told an appeals trial on Wednesday that her party acted in “good faith,” denying an effort to embezzle European Parliament funds as she fights to keep her 2027 presidential bid alive.
A French court last year barred Le Pen, a three-time presidential candidate from the far-right National Rally (RN), from running for office for five years over a fake jobs scam at the European institution.
It found her, along with 24 former European Parliament lawmakers, assistants and accountants as well as the party itself, guilty of operating a “system” from 2004 to 2016 using European Parliament funds to employ party staff in France.
Le Pen — who on Tuesday rejected the idea of an organized scheme — said on her second day of questioning that even if her party broke the law, it was unintentional.
“We were acting in complete good faith,” she said in the dock on Wednesday.
“We can undoubtedly be criticized,” the 57-year-old said, shifting instead the blame to the legislature’s alleged lack of information and oversight.
“The European Parliament’s administration was much more lenient than it is today,” she said.
Le Pen also argued that the passage of time made it “extremely difficult” for her to prove her innocence.
“I don’t know how to prove to you what I can’t prove to you, what I have to prove to you,” she told the court.
Eleven others and the party are also appealing in a trial to last until mid-February, with a decision expected this summer.
- Rules were ‘clear’ -
Le Pen was also handed a four-year prison sentence, with two years suspended, and fined 100,000 euros ($116,000) in the initial trial.
She now again risks the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a one-million-euro ($1.16 million) fine if the appeal fails.
Le Pen is hoping to be acquitted — or at least for a shorter election ban and no time under house arrest.
On Tuesday, Le Pen pushed back against the argument that there was an organized operation to funnel EU funds to the far-right party.
“The term ‘system’ bothers me because it gives the impression of manipulation,” she said.
EU Parliament official Didier Klethi last week said the legislature’s rules were “clear.”
EU lawmakers could employ assistants, who were allowed to engage in political activism, but this was forbidden “during working hours,” he said.
If the court upholds the first ruling, Le Pen will be prevented from running in the 2027 election, widely seen as her best chance to win the country’s top job.
She made it to the second round in the 2017 and 2022 presidential polls, before losing to Emmanuel Macron. But he cannot run this time after two consecutive terms in office.
