RE: IAG & RR.....2 Jul 2021 16:51
3:45pm
Ball in USA's court over transatlantic travel, says European Commission
The European Commission has said this afternoon that it is now up to the United States to decide when vaccinated EU residents can visit America, after Europe opened its door to vaccinated Americans.
"The ball is in the court of our US partners to take the decision on their side," a spokesman for the EU executive told journalists in Brussels.
The spokesman pointed out that US President Joe Biden and his EU counterparts, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, discussed Covid travel reciprocity at their US-EU summit on June 15.
The European Union on June 16 added the US to its white list of countries deemed to be working well on vaccinations while also managing the coronavirus pandemic and new variants. The US, however, has so far not reciprocated, maintaining a ban on visitors from the EU originally imposed by then US leader Donald Trump and since extended by Biden.
Last week, during a trip to Europe, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Biden's administration was "anxious to be able to restore travel as fully and quickly as possible".