Paul McAuliffe
Question:115. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs his plans for a colour-coded common travel agreement within the EU in respect of foreign travel during Covid-19. [28428/20]
View answerTuesday, 6 October 2020
Questions (115)
Written answers
On September 4, the European Commission issued a proposal on a co-ordinated approach to travel restrictions within Europe in response to COVID-19. The German Presidency has been leading intensive negotiations in Brussels at official level on the proposal.
One of the measures under discussion is the introduction of a traffic light system under which countries and regions within the EU and EEA would be classified in terms of COVID-19 risk.
The factors used to calculate risk remain to be agreed. They are likely to include, at a minimum, the prevailing 14-day COVID incidence rate per 100,000; the percentage of recent positive COVID-19 tests from the area; and the number of tests being carried out by area. The respective thresholds for each of these criteria, to determine which areas are of higher or lower risk, remains subject to agreement.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control will be mandated with producing the necessary data on a weekly basis, setting out which areas are at higher or lower risk by way of traffic-light style colour-coded mapping.
The data and mapping are likely to be produced at sub-national regional levels. Accordingly, Member States may then apply their respective protective measures targeted with regard to higher-risk sub-national regions, rather than whole countries. Although not yet agreed, it appears likely that it will remain with Member States to decide what protective measures to apply, in accordance with respective national competences.
The Presidency is according major priority to this issue. As set out in the National Plan for Living with COVID-19, Ireland has made clear its broad support for the Commission proposal and our intention to align with the new arrangements, once agreed.