As of June 21, Spain will resume working freely with all European Union countries, except for its land borders with Portugal that will not open until July 1, according to what the Prime Minister announced Spanish Pedro Sanchez Sunday.
Sanchez said in a televised speech that the Spanish government, which had previously set July 1 as the date for opening the borders, decided to lift "all restrictions on its borders with all member states (of the European Union) on June 21."
This date coincides with raising the state of alert in the country that allowed the middle of March to impose a stone is one of the most severe in the world, and with the end of the gradual lifting that started mid-May.
Sanchez added that after consulting with Portugal, he made a decision "to keep surveillance on the land border with Portugal until June 30" implicitly.
In light of the reopening of the border, the quarantine imposed on May 15 on travelers arriving in Spain will be lifted on June 21, according to Sanchez.
The Spanish Prime Minister´s announcement of these measures comes after Brussels called on Thursday "all member states to lift all restrictions imposed on internal borders Monday" on June 15.
The issue of reopening the Spanish border led to the beginning of June of confusion within the government, as the Minister of Tourism announced the end of the control measures on the land borders on June 22 with France and Portugal before the government repeated the date of the first of July.
Portugal, the least affected by the epidemic, said it was surprised by the unilateral announcement.
Before the borders are reopened to European tourists, about 11,000 Germans will be able to travel from the Balearic Archipelago on Monday, as part of a program to revive the tourist movement.
Spain is one of the countries most affected by the epidemic, with more than 27,000 deaths, and at the same time the second tourist destination in the world, as tourism constitutes 12 percent of its gross domestic product.
Sanchez said that, like the other European Union countries, from July 1, Spain will start reopening its borders for travelers from non-European countries, as the epidemic is "similar" to the situation in the European Union "or better than it."
Spanish authorities fear that the reopening of the border will cause new hotbeds of infection. Sanchez stressed that it is "a critical moment, but we are ready for it", especially in terms of monitoring new cases.
