The Guardian 23 June 2021
Merkel: all EU states should quarantine UK arrivals
German chancellor Angela Merkel has said she would like other European states to follow Germany and require people entering from countries with high levels of the Delta variant, like Britain, to go into quarantine.
“In our country, if you come from Great Britain, you have to go into quarantine - and that’s not the case in every European country, and that’s what I would like to see,” Merkel told the Bundestag lower house of parliament.
Yesterday, Merkel said she hoping for better coordination on pandemic travel rules among the bloc’s 27 member states. She said it was problematic to have a patchwork of regulations. Seemingly, she would like other EU states to follow her lead.
“I regret that we haven’t managed yet to have completely uniform action among the member states on travel guidelines – that is coming back to haunt us,” she told reporters after a meeting with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, according to AFP.
Merkel criticised Portugal, which has allowed the entry of British tourists despite the prevalence of the Delta variant in the UK.
Von der Leyen acknowledged she was “worried” about the spread of the Delta variant, saying it was “only a matter of time” before it became dominant in Europe.
