On August 30th, the Council of the European Union (EU) updated its list of countries and regions for which non-essential travel restrictions (due to COVID-19) into EU countries should be lifted.
The Council removed the United States from the list and, having done so, imposed a temporary restriction on non-essential travel from the US into EU countries.
Other countries removed from the European Council’s list include Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro, and the Republic of North Macedonia.
According to the Council, the temporary travel restriction recommendation “is without prejudice to the possibility for member states to lift the temporary restriction on non-essential travel to the EU for fully vaccinated travelers.”
Criteria used to determine the countries on the EU Council’s list include a stable or declining trend of COVID-19 cases in the country. The European Council reviews the list every 2 weeks.