Date Published: 19/06/2020
ARCHIVED - Spain and the UK in talks about travel corridor which will remove quarantine requirement
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
The BBC however, reports that the UK Government will not announce quarantine changes before June 29th
Spain opens its borders for EU and Schengen residents from June 22nd.
One of the biggest issues facing UK residents keen to travel to or holiday in Spain this summer is the ongoing uncertainty about whether they will be required to quarantine for 14 days on both entering Spain and then returning to the UK.
The uncertainty is due to the complicated status of the UK as it transits into Brexit; technically the UK has already left the EU, although due to the ongoing negotiations many of the rules and laws relating to EU members still apply during this transition year.
Although the Spanish government said last weekend that UK residents would be permitted to come and go in the same way as EU nationals, Spain's foreign affairs minister Arancha González Laya, indicated on Monday that Spain may impose a reciprocal quarantine on British visitors entering Spain, saying in an interview with the BBC: "We will be checking what the UK will be doing and we will be in dialogue with the UK to see whether or not we should be introducing reciprocity as they have different measures than the rest of the EU."
BBC News has reported today, Friday, that “Discussions are still ongoing between UK officials and officials in a number of European countries,” including Portugal, which opens its borders to Spain on July 1st, relating to the creation of "travel corridors" between specific countries.
The UK is due to review its own the quarantine requirements every three weeks – 29th June marks the end of the first three-week period, and the BBC reports that it has been told that: “the government is planning to relax its travel quarantine in early July for some people arriving into the UK”, saying that , “the UK hopes to make an announcement on 29th June that it has secured a number of travel corridors, ” an agreement between the UK and other countries that people travelling in both directions between two countries would not have to self-isolate after they travel.
The BBC also reported that, “A senior aviation source has told the BBC that the quarantine could remain in place throughout the summer for anyone arriving from countries who do not have a travel corridor with the UK.”
The UK Foreign Office is still advising against travel to Spain on its webpage, and this means that any travel insurance for journeys to Spain will be invalid should travellers require medical assistance, as will EHIC cards, as the FO is specifically warning travellers not to travel.
The British printed media are reporting that an “imminent decision” is expected from Spain, “Spain is willing to be open to the United Kingdom, we are in talks with them about their quarantine. We are in a position to open without a quarantine,” a Spanish foreign ministry official is reported to have said to the Guardian.
So for the moment it is still unclear whether UK citizens will be expected to quarantine or not from Monday evening onwards, given the fact that the UK will expect anyone returning to the UK from Spain to self-isolate for 14 days on their return from Spain.
Hopefully an answer will be available soon.