So it is said, that if there were a requirement for a 14 day quarantine upon visiting the UK – something it’s entirely legal to insist upon – then if there was an exemption for France then this would be illegal. Illegal if it were not applied to all other EU countries.
We’re not allowed to distinguish between different EU states inthis manner that is.
Britain could face a legal challenge over its 14-day quarantine plan as experts warn the French exemption should be offered to all EU citizens.
Ministers are working on plans that could see the French exempted after President Emmanual Macron demanded concessions in a phone call with Boris Johnson on Sunday.
The two leaders issued a joint statement in which they stated that the quarantine would not apply to travellers coming from France to the UK “at this stage.”
It is understood the French Government is concerned about the 350,000 of their nationals in London, many of whom return to France every summer.
Ministers have been warned that it is likely to be illegal under EU law,
This does then face a number of questions. Firstly, we’#re not in the EU so bugger’em and their laws. But while we’re not in we have agreed to stick with all those laws until December.
It’s also true that visitors from Ireland will not face that quarantine requirement. Eire being another EU state and – but the answer there is that the free movement between Ireland and the UK has been going on for centuries and is grandfathered in to whatever it is that the EU says.
And then there’s Schengen. Clearly it is possible to have different rules about who can go where on what terms among EU countries. Because that’s the situation we’ve already got. But you can bet that the federasts aren’t going to allow that one to interfere here.
It would appear that the answer is that either the Frogs don’t have to have 14 day quarantines, meaning that all EU don’t, or the Frogs do as does everyone else other than the Irish. Around here we think the 14 requirement is insane but maybe that’s just us. For the economic costs of all of this far outweigh any possible medical benefits at this stage. So, we need to drop these rules and get back to something like normal.
Testing seems like a good idea. For all travellers, not just visitors…
Why?
Pandemic = prevalent throughout a Country. It means you cannot stop the spread, because it is already spread and you don’t know where: there is no focus of infection as there is in epidemic.
Wouldn’t it be the Frogs breaking EU law? They’re the ones demanding that the be treated as a seperate entity to the EU.
Emperor Macronavirus has cancelled Summer. Restaurants, bars, tourist places, accommodation will stay closed, France’s traditional, cultural events, fairs, festivals, pétanque, etc cannot take place, travel outside 100km without approved cause illegal, restrictions on public transport, compulsory masks in certain premises, on public transport… because… crowds, plague.
It is unlikely ex-pat French will want to come home for Summer… to do what?
Trump treated other countries differently in the ban on incoming flights, and before that, in the ban on countries with terrorism and poor recordkeeping on citizens. That wasn’t fair; his opponents called it racist, and a few judges blocked it because it is hardly necessary to look at the text of the order when we know what Trump is thinking. A sufficient answer was and is: “This isn’t about fairness!”
The idea of a travel quarantine at this stage is preposterous, doubly so from Europe considering UK has higher infection rate. Are they TRYING to kill off the tourism & hospitality sector completely?
The virus is now everywhere & it is pointless to try & ‘keep it out’. Just isolate the vulnerable & treat the sick (the vast majority of whom will not even need treatment)
So Boris agreed to abide by any nonsense law that bunch of miscreants might conjure up post exit vote?
“Firstly, we’#re not in the EU so bugger’em and their laws.” In reality we most certainly are in the EU, except in two relatively irrelevant areas, we don’t anymore send representatives to the circus that is the European Parliament and we don’t have a British national as a Commissioner at the Commission; in most other areas we are in practise still an EU member, subject to all EU legal provisions and of course we pay in excess of 35 million pounds a day for the privilege. The spin that we left last January is just that, spin. Let us hope… Read more »
Just make a 20 second soapy hand wash compulsory for all persons arriving regardless of what country’s flag their parents shagged under. Or you don’t get through the green or red channel with your luggage. And be made to do it twice if you resist.
https://hkinnovationnode.mit.edu/2020/02/09/study-to-slow-an-epidemic-focus-on-handwashing/
Especially given today’s figures on the numbers of taxi drivers who have died of/with this thing.
.
Don’t discriminate by nationality, discriminate by place of residence/visit.
People who have spent the last 12 months entirely in France can come. Others can’t. Their nationality is unimportant.
Oh, and it’s all theatre. You’re not keeping it out.
Only the daft Brexiteers with their delusions of “take back control” should care about this. We can (and always could) ignore EU rules when it suits us. Even if we are in violation we can always just play for time and by the time we have had a few rounds of trivial amendments and being told that’s not adequate, and waiting for the next Bill to get time in Parliament, the whole crisis is over and it no longer matters (or anyone who cares has died of old age). To see the sort of enforcement timescales, look at the case… Read more »
It currently suits us to ignore the Common Agricultural Policy. If the other 27 want to argue about how much funding it gets, and what the requirements are for people getting the handouts, that doesn’t concern us. Are you saying that the UK could have opted out of the CAP and the contribution to the funding of it all along if it wanted to while remaining an EU member? And opted out of the centralised system of protections for the recipients of the handouts? And the centralised system of regulations that stop the recipients of the handouts from being more… Read more »