Date Published: 21/07/2020
ARCHIVED - Spanish Foreign Minister rejects prospect of French-Spanish border closing
ARCHIVED ARTICLE On Saturday the French PM indicated that this option was being considered by his country
On Saturday French Prime Minister, Jean Castex, said that France and Spain should discuss the growing problem of Covid infections in Catalonia, particularly in regard to the border between the two countries, indicating that France was considering whether to close the border as part of measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
This immediately set off a tremor of concern amongst all the expats who have been considering driving down to Spain to avoid having to fly by air, as there are a significant number who have driven already, or plan to drive down through France during the next few weeks, and prefer the “French route” to the long ferry journey to Bilbao.
Mr Castex said: “We are monitoring this very closely, here in particular, because it is a real issue that we must discuss with the Spanish authorities.”
Borders between the two countries only re-opened on June 21st for general traffic following three months of closure due to the Covid pandemic, during which time only merchant transport and casual workers were allowed to cross.
On Monday, the French Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, declined to talk about the possibility of a border closure with Spain due to the spread of the epidemic in Catalonia, but on Tuesday Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, said that the members of the EU are in permanent contact to analyze the epidemiological situation in each country, but rejected that a closure of internal borders is currently on the table, including that of Spain with France.
At the press conference after the Council of Ministers, Laya answered questions from journalists about the hypothesis that France could consider closing the Spanish border in the face of coronavirus outbreaks in Catalonia.
"It has always been said in the EU that borders open and close," she said, but guaranteed that today that "there is nothing specific" under discussion regarding the internal borders of the EU or indeed, the border with France.
On Tuesday Catalonia registered 590 new cases and recorded one death in the last 24 hours.
There are still 164 patients hospitalised in Lleida, 54 more than a week ago.
The regional health authority said today that it plans to intensify the detection of cases with 500 additional tracers and by tripling the number of PCR tests currently being carried out to 24,000 a day.
The new secretary of the Public Health Agency of Catalonia, Josep Maria Argimón, said that the strategy against the coronavirus will adopt two lines of action that described as "very fast": an increase in the PCR testing programme, up to 24,000 daily , and an increase in the detection of contacts with up to 500 'COVID managers,' adding: "Our vaccine is a mask, hands and social distancing. It will be simple, but it is so."
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