Spain may quarantine British visitors in response to UK policy

Spain is considering introducing a quarantine rule for UK visitors when the country reopens its borders to EU and Schengen area members on Sunday, the foreign minister has said.

Arancha González Laya said the measure was being considered in response to the British government’s decision to require all international arrivals into the UK, including returning British residents, to self-isolate for 14 days.

“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,” she said on the BBC’s Hardtalk programme.

González Laya added that the situation remained fluid. She said the Spanish government was keen to “properly engage in a dialogue with the UK authorities to make sure that we both take the message that best corresponds to the health situation, which today is a little bit better in Spain than it is in the UK”.

The foreign minister’s remarks come almost two weeks after Spain’s tourism minister, María Reyes Maroto, said the country hoped to welcome back British visitors, but still needed greater clarity from the UK authorities.

Currently, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is advising people against all but essential international travel, raising doubts about whether Britons ought to be taking an overseas summer holiday this year.

“We’re in touch with British authorities and tour operators regarding two elements that need to be resolved,” said Reyes Maroto.

“One is the … quarantine that the British government has announced. We know that there are pressures from the sector and that it could be taken off the agenda but what’s really limiting movement right now are the restrictions from the Foreign Office.”

On Sunday, the British chancellor, Rishi Sunak, said the 14-day quarantine period would be kept under review, adding that the government was “looking at all options”, including opening up travel corridors with other countries.

Spain had been planning to reopen its borders on 1 July.

But on Sunday, the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, announced they would open 10 days earlier to EU and Schengen area countries, and that the current 14-day quarantine requirement for those entering the country from overseas would also expire on 21 June.

At the request of the Portuguese government, the land border with Spain will not open until 1 July.

Spain will open its borders to so-called third countries, which are not part of the Schengen area, from 1 July – providing their epidemiological situation is similar to, or better than, that of the EU, that they show reciprocity when it comes to travel, and that they agree to certain health conditions.

Read the original article at The Guardian