UK residents could be banned from travelling to Europe after 1st January

[Jeff Crawley]

Oh dear! I did so enjoy being a European

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/dec/09/uk-holidaymakers-could-be-barred-from-visiting-eu-under-covid-safety-rules

 

[Stephan the Painter]

 

[Saint Mike II]

Oh dear! I did so enjoy being a European

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/dec/09/uk-holidaymakers-could-be-barred-from-visiting-eu-under-covid-safety-rules

As I understand geography the UK is still in Europe, you are just no longer an EU citizen. Welcome to how the rest of us feel.

 

[VNwalking]

No words. So sorry...

 

[AlwynWellington]

I was striding through south western France in April 2016.

On a lay day at Moissac I encountered a British couple navigating the canal in a very generously proportioned craft. They were proposing, from 2017 when the husband retired, to spend most of their time continuing to do that.

Two days later at Saint-Antoine mine host at the restaurant that night persuaded a couple that lived locally to come in for a coffee. They were another British couple who had lived here for 28 (?) years.

Several weeks later I suffered an injury and retired hurt to my eldest son in London.

To recuperate I walked the Thames (from source to Woolwich) and one day near Hampton Court I encountered two residential narrow boats and engaged the operators in conversation. This was two days after the referendum. From the scathing way one spoke about the two couples I had encountered two months before, I gather neither wished to leave the confines of a Thames River narrow boat. So I suspect being banned by "Europeans" would not faze those two one iota.

As for the rest of us ...

 

[Deleted member 34316]

 

[Jeff Crawley]

As I understand geography the UK is still in Europe, you are just no longer an EU citizen. Welcome to how the rest of us feel.

The difference being that "the rest of you" haven't had rights taken away from you. Sad times.

 

[henrythedog]

Or put another way - non-members of the EU have no automatic right to enter the EU?

I still wear my ‘48%’ blue badge with golden stars every day and as reality dawns I expect there to be a correlation between those who expect two weeks on the Spanish costas every year and the 52%.
The greatest act of economic self-harm a country has inflicted on itself short of armed insurrection, in my opinion.

My apologies in advance to the moderators.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

I was striding through south western France in April 2016.

On a lay day at Moissac I encountered a British couple navigating the canal in a very generously proportioned craft. They were proposing, from 2017 when the husband retired, to spend most of their time continuing to do that.

Two days later at Saint-Antoine mine host at the restaurant that night persuaded a couple that lived locally to come in for a coffee. They were another British couple who had lived here for 28 (?) years.

Several weeks later I suffered an injury and retired hurt to my eldest son in London.

To recuperate I walked the Thames (from source to Woolwich) and one day near Hampton Court I encountered two residential narrow boats and engaged the operators in conversation. This was two days after the referendum. From the scathing way one spoke about the two couples I had encountered two months before, I gather neither wished to leave the confines of a Thames River narrow boat. So I suspect being banned by "Europeans" would not faze those two one iota.

As for the rest of us ...

(Before this gets too political) the huge irony is that, after all their clamouring for "blue passports" the first place they can't use them in is . . . Europe!

 

[Annette london]

Oh dear! I did so enjoy being a European

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/dec/09/uk-holidaymakers-could-be-barred-from-visiting-eu-under-covid-safety-rules

Morning all Oh dear this is dreadful news
And worse to come as I heard this morning that one of the big supermarkets is stockpiling food but warns us not to panic buy!
Now if that's not an invitation to get the trolley out and whizz to the high St then I don't know what is
I wonder how they'll stockpile the bananas!

Right now, I'm heading down to the bunker to count the toilet rolls....I think we're down to the last thousand!
But not to worry we've still got five thousand tins of beans left.....that should keep us going for a while..no pun intended!

And did I read somewhere that ration books are about to be resurrected?

 

[OzAnnie]

@Jeff Crawley
Is this news definite , definite , definite?
or just until COVID numbers are better? I just haven’t understood the link post entirely.
it just seems quite unbelievable.
I do understand your grief.
X

 

[Isca-camigo]

Or put another way - non-members of the EU have no automatic right to enter the EU?

I still wear my ‘48%’ blue badge with golden stars every day and as reality dawns I expect there to be a correlation between those who expect two weeks on the Spanish costas every year and the 52%.
The greatest act of economic self-harm a country has inflicted on itself short of armed insurrection, in my opinion.

My apologies in advance to the moderators.

I hope this post doesn't get pulled, I have seen the occasional statement to the opposite left to stand in threads.

 

[Annette london]

@Jeff Crawley
Is this news definite , definite , definite?
or just until COVID numbers are better? I just haven’t understood the link post entirely.
it just seems quite unbelievable.
I do understand your grief.
X

As my dear old mum used to say"you can't believe everything you read in the paper"
Especially SOME papers

And look on the bright side now...we've got a vaccine now and we need to look beyond the new year and this is not the time to be listening to the prophets of doom or indeed Job's comforter

 

[henrythedog]

Morning all Oh dear this is dreadful news
And worse to come as I heard this morning that one of the big supermarkets is stockpiling food but warns us not to panic buy!
Now if that's not an invitation to get the trolley out and whizz to the high St then I don't know what is
I wonder how they'll stockpile the bananas!

Right now, I'm heading down to the bunker to count the toilet rolls....I think we're down to the last thousand!
But not to worry we've still got five thousand tins of beans left.....that should keep us going for a while..no pun intended!

And did I read somewhere that ration books are about to be resurrected?

Ironically it would have been much easier to stockpile bananas if they had to be straight.

(this is a fairly obscure reference to an EU scare story in the British media many years ago falsely claiming that EU regulations were to insist on only straight bananas)

 

[Annette london]

(Before this gets too political) the huge irony is that, after all their clamouring for "blue passports" the first place they can't use them in is . . . Europe!

Well I'm alright Jack/Jeff as they say

I've still got my Irish passport so it looks like I'll be leaving"himself" behind as he cries into his "blue" as I head off to the Camino on my own...now that's got to be a result!!

 

[JabbaPapa]

@Jeff Crawley
Is this news definite , definite , definite?
or just until COVID numbers are better? I just haven’t understood the link post entirely.
it just seems quite unbelievable.
I do understand your grief.
X

It's Covid, not Brexit -- though Covid does not currently prevent travel between EU Member States, plus transitionally the UK.

It's not "definite" in two senses -- first, a trade deal is still possible, albeit seemingly very unlikely, which could redefine the issue.

Second, yes, it's until the Covid numbers in the UK go down.

There is an exception in regard to Ireland, which belongs to a Common Travel Area with the UK.

 

[Bristle Boy]

Having been burnt out by Brexit and Covid a long time time ago this makes no difference to me personally. I understand that others might be affected differently.
As one of the mechanisms to combat Covid it makes sense to me and one that many made in the early part of 2020.
The date is more down to political posturing and when the economic effects are felt things will change.

 

[Kathar1na]

Is this news definite , definite , definite? or just until COVID numbers are better? I just haven’t understood the link post entirely. it just seems quite unbelievable.

At the time of writing (Thursday, 10 December 2020, 11 am Brussels time), it’s speculation. There still could be a post-Brexit deal ... we will know more, incredibly, as late as this Sunday, whether there will be such a deal and what it entails. Also, the EU (Comission) will publish their more detailed plans for a non-deal scenario, possibly today, and we will then know what it entails.

Worst case scenario is that there will be no exemptions for UK passport holders. They will become so-called third country nationals under EU law on 1 January 2021 (00:00 hours Brussels time) with the same status as USA nationals for example. 3-months Schengen limit for stays in EU countries and currently barred from entry as the UK is not on the EU’s list of safe countries (COVID 19), ie unlike Australia.

Btw, it wouldn’t take much to put the UK on this list which is only a recommendation anyway, every EU country can allow UK citizens to enter their country in January if they wanted to do so. Most likely, nothing will change in this respect by midnight New Year’s Eve in most EU countries if not all EU countries.

Remind me who invented the straight banana story and similar stories? It wasn’t by any chance the current UK prime minister when he was a journalist in Brussels working for a UK newspaper, was it? Readers were eager to believe them ...

 

[woody66]

Hi !
My thinking on this would be;we are banned until we have Covid under control!(and we have proof possibly of vaccination)
There is no other logical reasoning considering the current situation we are in otherwise we are back in the realms of a conspiracy theory!
I don'think it has anything to do with leaving the EU!
Woody

 

[Kathar1na]

And look on the bright side now...we've got a vaccine now

Ah, the Pfizer/Biontech vaccine! A vaccine made in Europe as the Belgian prime minister pointed out to the British prime minister on Twitter a few days ago when vaccination in the UK started. Developed in Mainz in Germany, produced in Puurs in Belgium, both in the EU from day one.

PS: I hope Ivar and the moderators have mercy with us posters. It’s the season of good will and we are not talking politics. This is just banter between old friends.

 

[Charrito]

It isn't going to happen, so stop panicking. Perhaps there will be restrictions while we're still dealing with Covid, but Brexit (deal or no deal) will not affect the possibility for UK residents to travel to and from the rest of Europe.

I'm ok. British nationality, but I live in Salamanca, Spain.

 

[Kathar1na]

It isn't going to happen, so stop panicking. Perhaps there will be restrictions while we're still dealing with Covid, but Brexit (deal or no deal) will not affect the possibility for UK residents to travel to and from the rest of Europe.

I'm ok. British nationality, but I live in Salamanca, Spain.

You are ok because you have a (EU) Spanish residency card. Hm, I vaguely remember something ... I’ll try to dig it up. If I remember correctly, then the Guardian article would be badly researched ...

 

[kirkie]

The difference being that "the rest of you" haven't had rights taken away from you. Sad times.

Jeff, what can I say? As they say over here, it will pan out. Be patient. Are you sure you don’t have an Irish grandparent? I don’t. I will pm you with more.

 

[Bristle Boy]

Jeff, what can I say? As they say over here, it will pan out. Be patient. Are you sure you don’t have an Irish grandparent? I don’t. I will pm you with more.

Well done Kirkie.
It will. Panic not.
The world will still revolve and the sun will come up.

 

[wayfarer]

Relax, there is no official source for this information just a newspaper article, and we all know what they say about paper.

 

[Charrito]

You are ok because you have a (EU) Spanish residency card. Hm, I vaguely remember something ... I’ll try to dig it up. If I remember correctly, then the Guardian article would be badly researched ...

It's just typical scaremongering by the British press. The Guardian used to be serious, but this sort of article is more typical of papers like The Mail.

 

[Bristle Boy]

It's just typical scaremongering by the British press. The Guardian used to be serious, but this sort of article is more typical of papers like The Mail.

I enjoy the cartoons of Steve Bell in the Guardian but, like all newspapers, it has an editorial political slant. I would bear that in mind when reading the Guardian.

 

[Kathar1na]

It's just typical scaremongering by the British press. The Guardian used to be serious

I read the Guardian article again and it is indeed badly written.

The headline is misleading but that's the nature of many headlines, headlines need to catch the eye of the reader.

The rest is a mishmash of actual facts and extremely vague sources - walk around the European quarters in Brussels and you are likely to find an EU official within 5 minutes who may share his or her views with you but that doesn't mean that they actually know more about a particular EU topic than you and me and Bob from down in the pub. I am not impressed.

I'll make a bold prediction, though. This article will be picked up by other news media and we will soon be informed by other posters from around the globe about our collective impending fate here in Europe on both sides of the Channel.

 

[Don Camillo]

Restrictions on travel due to Covid are common sense and will pan out eventually. EU restrictions on Brit's travelling simply mean that we will be joining many others with a "90 days in a rolling 180" policy.
This will effect me just as it will effect every other Brit who was lucky enough to be able to spend extended time in Europe.
But the fact is we held a democratic vote- one side won and one side did not. Whichever side we were on the matter now is to "suck it up" and make the best of it. At least we are not going to be short of fish.
Don.

 

[Bristle Boy]

I read the Guardian article again and it is indeed badly written.

The headline is misleading but that's the nature of many headlines, headlines need to catch the eye of the reader.

The rest is a mishmash of actual facts and extremely vague sources - walk around the European quarters in Brussels and you are likely to find an EU official within 5 minutes who may share his or her views with you but that doesn't mean that they actually know more about a particular EU topic than you and me and Bob from down in the pub. I am not impressed.

I'll make a bold prediction, though. This article will be picked up by other news media and we will soon be informed by other posters from around the globe about our collective impending fate here in Europe on both sides of the Channel.

Well done.
It is really a "non headline" and was going to happen irrelevant of Covid.
It is scaremongering.
Edit: much of this has been happening throughout 2020 due to covid with travel corridors.

 

[henrythedog]

Remind me who invented the straight banana story and similar stories? It wasn’t by any chance the current UK prime minister when he was a journalist in Brussels working for a UK newspaper, was it? Readers were eager to believe them ...

I think this one - together with the story that British fish and chip shops were going to have to use latin names for their fish - is a long-running ‘euro myth’; but I do believe that the current prime minister’s hurriedly written columns for The Daily Telegraph (he was notorious for phoning in his contribution after the deadline and making it up on the spot) did promote some of the wilder stories.


That’s a ridiculously long sentence. Here are a few punctuation marks, you might want to add them in if you’re trying to read it. (...,,,;

 

[henrythedog]

Restrictions on travel due to Covid are common sense and will pan out eventually. EU restrictions on Brit's travelling simply mean that we will be joining many others with a "90 days in a rolling 180" policy.
This will effect me just as it will effect every other Brit who was lucky enough to be able to spend extended time in Europe.
But the fact is we held a democratic vote- one side won and one side did not. Whichever side we were on the matter now is to "suck it up" and make the best of it. At least we are not going to be short of fish.
Don.

I respect your point of view, I just don’t agree with it.

 

[Kathar1na]

the EU (Comission) will publish their more detailed plans for a non-deal scenario, possibly today, and we will then know what it entails.

They've published the EU contingency plans for a no post-Brexit deal this morning. And they had already published lots of it earlier: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_2368

It's tons to read.

Also, I'm fairly confident, someone will actually ask a spokesperson of the Council or the Commission about the question raised in the Guardian article (no post-Brexit deal, Covid-19 related entry rules and how they apply to people travelling from the UK to an EU country) and there will be an official answer from one or both of these official sources. The Commission does a press conference at midday every day and there is a Council summit starting today with plenty of opportunities for interaction with the press at the end.

Patience, consumers of current news and online forum information, it can only be a question of hours before we know what's what.

 

[OzAnnie]

@Kathar1na
thank you for your interpretation.. you make sense.

 

[Kathar1na]

At least we are not going to be short of fish.

Is that banter or serious talk? If it's banter I'd say that you may not be able to eat all the fish that gets caught every day by you and you may have to sell it and I pray that it will be fresh by the time it reaches us and still affordable what with tariffs and all . If it's politics, I wouldn't reply, of course. Ah, one never gets tired of rehashing stuff, n'est-ce pas? Let's concentrate on facts: only 21 days now till the New Year 2021.

(These icons turned up when I searched for "party").

 

[Jimmy Smith]

The bottom line is, we just don't know what is happening. We can make plans, but on what basis.

Personally I choose worst case scenario planning as experience tells me that it leads to less disappointment.

I won't begin to mention what I truly think of our politicians or else the moderators would rightly expell me from the forum.

 

[Harington]

As I understand geography the UK is still in Europe, you are just no longer an EU citizen. Welcome to how the rest of us feel.

We have not been EU citizens since 31 January. Once (if) Covid dies down we from the Uk will be able to travel to countries of the European Union within the Schengen 90 days in 180 restrictions

 

[PK Smit]

As I understand geography the UK is still in Europe, you are just no longer an EU citizen. Welcome to how the rest of us feel.

Sorry to say this, but I do not believe a single word from the Gaurdian. And yes it make sense for the European Union to impose stricter travelling meassures on non-Eurapeans, I also suffer from that very same regulations being a non-European.

 

[Kathar1na]

Everyone is wide awake now in Europe - it's early afternoon - and busy writing and publishing their take on the story or potential non-story ... ;-). I recommend Politico. The DT would be fun to read but they are behind a paywall. Enjoy, here are some of the crop from the last hour.

 

[Charrito]

Press corner

Highlights, press releases and speeches

ec.europa.eu

 

[Kathar1na]

The Independent has actually a very good summary of the situation. I recommend reading it if you want to inform yourself: Covid Rules on Travel to Europe after Brexit still uncertain

Best quote: What’s the situation at present? It’s a muddle.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Best quote: What’s the situation at present? It’s a muddle.

It's been a muddle most everywhere around the globe since Covid-19 first raised it's ugly head.

 

[Kathar1na]

It's been a muddle most everywhere around the globe since Covid-19 first raised it's ugly head.

End of post-Brexit UK/EU Transition Period in combination with current EU Covid-19 entry/travel restrictions just three weeks before the deadline that had been known for years is a unique kind of muddle. It has been five minutes before 12 for years.

 

[wayfarer]

We have always tried to make sure that posts on this forum are based on fact or have official sources, this is not the case with this thread plus it is getting too political.
I will close it now and the subject can be revisited when we actually know what is going to happen.