The Council of Heads of EU Member States approved the Commission’s proposal to ease travel ban rules due to the pandemic, a proposal that seems to benefit Albania as well. However, these rules are only recommended for member countries.
The Council of Heads of EU Member States on Thursday approved new rules on which member states will be able to allow travel for tourist purposes by citizens of third countries such as Albania. The new rules suggest that Albania could be one of the beneficiaries, but this is not certain because member states will have the right to assess not only the criteria but also the reliability of statistical information on the presence of the new coronavirus in a country. set.
According to the press release, member countries will be able to allow travel ea) persons vaccinated with vaccines authorized by the European Medicines Agency; b) unvaccinated citizens but coming from countries where the number of identified cases of COVID-19 is not higher than 75 per 100 thousand inhabitants.
Albania has so far carried out over 700 thousand vaccinations but the vast majority of them have been carried out with the Chinese vaccine, which has not been authorized for approval by the European Union and therefore is not recognized. EU authorized vaccines such as Pfizer or Astrazeneka are very few in our country.
On the other hand, the cumulative number of new cases per 100 thousand inhabitants in Albania has been during the last two weeks 27, a figure much lower than the new limit set by the Council, ie 75 per 100 thousand.
However, these are not the only criteria that member states must consider. According to the press release, “other criteria continue to apply”, including a stable or declining trend of new cases and the number of tests performed, a 4% positivity rate on all tests performed or the reliability of the information available . ”
Albania has had an extremely low number of tests throughout the pandemic, while the degree of positivity in relation to infections has dropped to acceptable levels only in recent weeks, up from 30% earlier.
Currently EU countries are closed to Albanian travelers except in urgent cases and in many cases a negative test is required, which is costly.
The Italian Embassy in Tirana announced a few days ago the new rules valid until July 30, in which Albanians are not allowed to enter Italy except when traveling for studies or have family ties with an EU citizen or a person with an Italian residence permit.
In the latest announcement, Greece continues to be closed for tourist trips while other travelers no longer have the obligation to be quarantined for 14 days.
