Arancha González Laya, Spain's foreign affairs minister.

Arancha González Laya, Spain's foreign affairs minister. | Ballesteros

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterMadrid12/06/2020 13:15
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Spain's foreign affairs minister, Arancha González Laya, has confirmed that while most EU countries will be opening their borders in gradual fashion from this coming Monday, other countries - including Spain - will be delaying the opening until the end of the month.

Following a Thursday videoconference with foreign ministers from twelve of the 26 Schengen countries, González Laya said that "we want to do this (opening borders) in a coordinated and cooperative way and avoid unilateral movements (of people)". Ministers, she added, have agreed to a gradual lifting of restrictions at European borders, a process that Spain had insisted should follow similar epidemiological criteria "in order to protect the health of our citizens and in the knowledge that restrictions to be lifted now can be reintroduced if the health situation deteriorates".

As to an opening of EU external borders, she explained that work is still to be done in establishing uniform criteria that "we will apply in order to lift restrictions".

It has been repeatedly stated that foreign tourism in Spain will recommence from 1 July.