The Diplomat in Spain

The Diplomat

Spain will not suspend, for the time being, the flights with the United Kingdom, thus disassociating itself from the measure adopted by other European partners, after the appearance of a new strain of coronavirus in that country.

The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Germany, Italy, Ireland, France and Sweden decided yesterday to close their borders to flights from the United Kingdom, while the Spanish government opted to strengthen the control of verification of PCR tests in airports and ports for people coming from the country.

From Moncloa, it was reported yesterday that the Executive defends “the need to adopt coordinated measures on flights from the United Kingdom” at the meeting of experts of the European Union’s mechanism for Integrated Political Response to Crises (RPIC) to be held this morning by videoconference. The RPIC is charged with monitoring the coronavirus crisis and addressing how to respond in a coordinated manner within the EU framework.

“Spain maintains that any decision in this sense must be common and avoid unilateralism,” said the Government in a statement in which it recalls that, in order to travel to Spain, “it is mandatory that all passengers from countries or areas at risk take an Active Infection Diagnostic Test, PDIA, for SARS-Cov-2 within seventy-two hours prior to arrival with a negative result.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, insisted on social networks that Spain has asked the EU for “a coordinated response to this new situation. “The objective is to protect the rights of EU citizens, but from a coordinated perspective,” she wrote in a message published on Twitter.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel maintained telephone contacts with other EU leaders to agree on a common response.

The British Health Minister, Matt Hancock, acknowledged that the new strain of coronavirus detected in England is “out of control” and therefore has acted “quickly and decisively”, in reference to the confinement imposed on London and the southeast of the country. The new strain is not more serious, but it is spreading more quickly.