Status: December 30, 2021 6:11 p.m.
Due to new entry rules, Brits residing in an EU country outside France were no longer allowed to travel through the country. Now the French government is giving in. Border officials are supposed to practice “tolerance” for the time being.
France has suspended the travel ban for British citizens residing in another EU country for the time being. The stricter corona entry rules would be relaxed “for the festive season at the end of the year,” said the French Ministry of the Interior at the request of the AFP news agency. The border officials had been instructed to exercise “tolerance” towards returning British travelers.
The company Eurotunnel had previously announced that Brits residing in an EU country outside France would no longer be allowed to enter France on the car train of the same name under the English Channel. According to the new regulations, the British are considered third-country nationals even if they live permanently in the EU, according to Eurotunnel. Now it is possible to travel through France again from now on.
Stricter entry rules because of Omikron
Since December 18, France has only allowed entry from Great Britain in urgent cases. But there are exceptions, for example for trucks. The step is intended to prevent the spread of the highly contagious Corona variant Omikron. At first it was said from the Interior Ministry in Paris that it was only “logical” to treat the British like all other third-country nationals and “not to allow them to pass through to another EU country”.
Hundreds of Brits who wanted to return to their homes in the EU after the Christmas holidays were affected by the tightening. “I’m completely confused,” said Professor Fiona Navin-Jones, who has lived in Belgium for 14 years, to the AFP news agency. “I no longer have the right to go home.” Her impression is that the corona pandemic is being used as a pretext for something “that is actually a Brexit problem”. The British-French relationship is currently already heavily strained. For example, London and Paris are arguing over fishing licenses in the English Channel.
London calls for clarification
The government in London had asked France to clarify whether the British are allowed to travel through France on their way to other EU countries. “The French government has stated that British nationals arriving from the UK who do not reside in France are not allowed to travel through France to return to their country of residence unless they are traveling by air,” the said Foreign Office in London. The French government is urgently asked for further clarification.