EU traffic light system to re-open travel takes effect – but almost all countries are on red

The system aims to ‘ensure freedom of movement and avoid fragmentation and disruption of services’

Red alert: most of Europe is at the highest alert level (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control)

The European Union has introduced its long-planned “traffic light” system in a bid to reopen travel.

International journeys are intended to become easier from today, to “help you plan your travel in Europe, while staying safe and healthy” according to the EU.

But with high levels of coronavirus infections almost everywhere in the EU, the move has had little immediate effect.

Last month the European Union established a framework for travel within the wider European Economic Area and the UK.

The system aims to “ensure freedom of movement, increase transparency for citizens and businesses and avoid fragmentation and disruption of services”.

Data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on the 14-day cumulative incidence rate, testing rate and testing positivity rates is used to classify countries and individual regions as green, amber or red.

A fourth category, grey, applies if there is insufficient information or if the testing rate is lower than 300 per 100,000 people. This currently applies to Northern Ireland and Slovakia.

The map of infection rates is expected to be published weekly.

For travellers from locations classed as green, "no restriction of free movement of persons should be applied”. At present the only European location to qualify appears to be the Faroe Islands, north of Scotland.

While Norway, Finland and parts of Greece are classed as orange, everywhere else is red.

For orange and red areas, the EU says that, in principle, entry should not be refused to travellers . But it accepts that requirements such as Covid-19 testing before or after arrival, as well as quarantine, could be stipulated.

“Measures should be proportionate and respect differences in the epidemiological situation of orange and red areas,” says the EU.

The UK is not part of the system, and continues to operate its own “go/no-go” system based on a wide range of criteria.

But the Republic of Ireland government has welcomed the move, saying: “The new system is intended to bring greater consistency and transparency across Europe.”

Currently, all travellers entering Ireland from red, orange and grey regions are requested to restrict their movements for two weeks.