The Diplomat
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced yesterday that Spain will require a PCR test or the full coronavirus vaccine regimen for citizens from the United Kingdom traveling to the Balearic Islands in order to prevent the entry of the Delta variant of COVID-19.
“We are going to apply to British tourists going to the Balearic Islands the same requirements we do with the rest of Europeans: they will need either the full guideline vaccination or a negative PCR in order to travel to the Balearic Islands”, Sánchez told journalist Àngels Barceló during an interview on Cadena SER’s Hoy por Hoy program in Barcelona, four days after the British authorities announced the inclusion of the Balearic Islands in the green list of safe travel due to COVID-19.
“This we will apply within 72 hours and so tour operators and British tourists will be able to adapt to these new rules”, added the chief executive. The Government’s decision responds to a request from the Balearic Islands regional government, whose president, Francina Armengol, had asked for “strict and safe entry controls” to be set. According to Sánchez, the data coming from the United Kingdom indicate infections “well above 150 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 14 days”, a “worrying” figure to which must be added some outbreaks recently detected in the Balearic Islands related to study trips to Mallorca.
The British Minister of Transport, Grant Shapps, announced on June 24 the inclusion of the Balearic Islands in the green list of countries and territories to which it will be possible to travel without quarantine on return from June 30. This is the first time that the British Government takes into account regional specificities when drawing up its traffic light, which until now included countries en bloc. The rest of the Spanish communities, including the Canary Islands, remain on the amber list. The British authorities do not prohibit travel to the countries on this amber list, but they do require travelers, prior to their return to the United Kingdom, to submit a PCR test in the country of origin, another PCR test on arrival (each such test costs around 100 euros) and a quarantine period that can only be shortened with a third (and costly) PCR.
On the other hand, the United Kingdom appears, at the proposal of the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, on the list of non-EU countries whose citizens are allowed to enter Spain without any other requirement than certifying the full course of vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or by the World Health Organization (WHO). The United Kingdom does not appear on the European Union Council’s list of non-EU countries that can freely enter Europe, but the Spanish Government has availed itself of a clause in the European Recommendation which does not prevent Member States from authorizing the entry of individual citizens from third countries where approved vaccines are administered, even if they do not appear on the list.
