EU removes Canadians from list of approved travellers, because of COVID-19

Officials at the EU have moved to halt Canadians from travelling to the bloc of European nations amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In July, the EU set up a so-called white list of countries whose citizens would be allowed access for non-essential travel.

Canada had been on the approved list from Day 1, along with 14 other countries.

In August, the EU removed Algeria, Montenegro, Morocco and Serbia from the list because of rising COVID-19 case numbers in those countries.

Officials meet every two weeks to decide if any changes should be made to the list, and no changes have been recommended since then.

On Wednesday, officials met for their regularly scheduled meeting and decided to remove three countries — Canada, Tunisia and Georgia — while adding Singapore to the approved travel list.

The decision doesn’t ban travel immediately, as the details of the proposed changes will now be hashed out in a written procedure, which is normally finalized within days, according to an EU official.

The list is not necessarily strictly enforced in every EU nation. Some countries, such as France, have not placed any restrictions on visitors from countries on the “white list.” Germany has pared the list down while Italy requires a period of self-isolation and demands travellers take a private vehicle to their destinations even if they are on the white list.

CBC