Will the summer vacation take place?
Hanna Helder studied German language and literature at the Albert Ludwig University in Freiburg. In addition to her studies, she has gained a lot of experience in radio and print journalism through internships and freelance work. She has been at the Burda School of Journalism since October 2018 and writes, among other things, as a trainee for
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.The borders to Austria, France and probably Denmark should reopen in good time before the summer vacation. The goal: Free travel - but the pandemic has to play along.
Travel to neighboring European countries should be possible again from mid-June despite the corona pandemic - provided the infection numbers remain under control. The checks at the German border are gradually being relaxed. The German-Austrian border should then open completely on June 15th. The EU Commission also advocates gradually restoring the severely restricted freedom of travel in Europe.
Travel to selected countries
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also announced a relaxation of the global travel warning for German tourists. This means that vacation trips should be realistic again, at least to certain foreign destinations in the summer - but initially not to mainland Spain and Italy. However, he did not initially name an exact point in time.
Goal: free travel
First of all, the controls at the border to Luxembourg should end on Saturday night. Germany is also ready to open the border with Denmark "as soon as the Danish government has carried out its ongoing consultations with its respective neighboring states," said the Interior Ministry on Wednesday. The controls at the borders with France, Switzerland and Austria will be extended to June 15 in consultation with these countries. However, Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) emphasized: "We combine this with the clear objective that we want free travel again from mid-June."
Only random checks
The Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz also announced that the border to Germany would be fully reopened on June 15. As early as Friday, there should only be random checks. Then restaurants and cafés will be allowed to reopen in Austria, as well as hotels and holiday apartments from May 29th. But guests are missing for a lucrative business. The Alpine region in particular lives from tourism, including from Germany. The border between Austria and Italy will initially remain closed due to the higher number of corona infections there - just like the one between France and Spain.
Nothing will be changed for the time being to the German rules for entry by air from Italy and Spain. So far, only those who have a valid reason are allowed to enter Germany - such as commuters, members of the medical professions or EU citizens who are on their way to their home country. The care of relatives and other family reasons could also be partially asserted.
Positive development of the infection process
According to the Ministry of the Interior, the relief is a result of the positive development of the infection process. If the number of new infections in neighboring regions increases sharply, more intensive controls will be carried out again. The guideline value of more than 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days offers orientation. (hh / dpa)
