Spain to Reopen Borders With Morocco on July 1
Spain’s government has decided to reopen its borders with Morocco on July 1, which borders have been closed so far due to the Coronavirus developments, the President of the Autonomous City of Melilla, Eduardo de Castro has announced during a press briefing.
President De Castro said that the head of government, Pedro Sanchez, informed him about this decision, during a virtual meeting,
The reopening of borders might be a one-side action, as Spain expects that Morocco’s government will maintain its borders closed until winter.
According to the US Embassy and Consulate in Morocco, the country’s government has ?extended its “Health State of Emergency until July 10 as part of its emergency measures to limit the spread of COVID-19.”
The US Embassy and Consulate in Morocco’s statement stressed that all regularly scheduled commercial flights to Morocco and vice versa would also remain suspended for an indefinite period. The statement clarifies that “the borders and ferries to/from Europe also remain closed. The Government of Morocco has not announced when it will allow international commercial flights or ferries to resume.”
Last month, Spain’s government decided to restrict arrivals from the Schengen Area and impose a two weeks quarantine for all incoming travellers, as part of the country’s efforts to stop the spread of the infection.
The government had announced that both measures would remain in place from May 15 until May 24, when the state of emergency expires.
The Spanish authorities reopened the country’s borders on June 21 for all European Union and Schengen Zone countries, despite EU’s pressure to lift internal border restrictions by June 15. The borders with Portugal will be reopened on July 1, as well of countries outside of the Schengen.
On June 21, the first day after Spain reopened its borders, a total of 100 passenger aircraft from the Schengen Zone arrived at Spanish airports.
Recently, Spain’s government decided to allocate more than 4.2 billion euros in a bid to revive the tourism sector, which has been highly affected by the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).
