Traffic lights: the United Kingdom considers different islands

British Ambassador to Spain Hugh Elliot reported in Palma this Thursday Your country is studying whether British tourists can travel to Balearic and Canary Islands from May if the incidence of coronovirus is low, regardless of the epidemiological situation in the rest of Spain.. In Ibiza on Wednesday, the ambassador assured that “today” “No guarantee” could be given that Balearic Island would receive a differential treatment in relation to the peninsula at a traffic light The British will launch on 17 May to classify and regulate international travel, as we have in the English traffic light: without guaranteeing differentiated treatment for the islands. However, the official version is again, on Friday, given last week by the Secretary of Transport, Grand Shapes (the Balearic and Canary Islands may be green at the British traffic lights).

Another twist on public statements by British policy makers is how the UK will see destinations at its stoplight from 17 May, when international holiday travel is set to resume.

Grant Shapes: The Islands Is Different

Last week, the Transport Secretary of the United Kingdom, Grant Shapps, said they would put up a traffic light on 17 May to classify different countries based on Kovid and vaccination rates. Will take into account the data of the islands apart from those of the nation to which they belong, As we are in the Balearic and Canary Islands, they may be green at British traffic lights.

Shapps told The Telegraph that he was confident that the high vaccination figures of the Mediterranean islands, which are the favorite destinations of the British such as the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands, would fall within the green regardless of the status of the countries concerned. . In fact, Shapps specifically spoke Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, Azores, Medira and Malta.

Hugh Elliott: no guarantee of differential treatment

However, on this Wednesday, on his first trip to the Balearic Islands, starting with Ibiza, the ambassador of the United Kingdom, Hugh Elliott said, “Today” Cannot “Guarantee” According to the EFE (English traffic light: no guarantee of differentiated treatment for the islands), the Balearix receives a differentiated treatment in relation to the peninsula.

The ambassador’s statements in Ibiza were surprising, as he contradicted what was said last week by Transport Secretary, Grant Schapps, as we reported: Balearic Islands and Canary Islands may be green at the British traffic lights.

British Ambassador Hugh Elliott with the President of the Balearic Islands Francina Armenagol in Palma.

Ambassador, in Palma: they are studying it

This Wednesday, the president of the Balearic Islands, Francina Armenagol, said that if the British can travel to the islands in the coming weeks, if the Kovid-19 incident is low, Regardless of epidemic data across Spain.

Armenagol said it had already made a request, along with the British authorities, in conjunction with the Spanish government, to “see the occurrence” of the virus in each autonomous community, with their fellow citizens for possible approval of the United Kingdom. Can travel abroad. From may

So on this Thursday, in Palma, British Ambassador Hugh Elliott has confirmed that his government has already received a request from the Balearic Executive and has said that it is “very well placed” on “quality information” by low-level transitions Installed from “. The evolution of the epidemic, the fact of being an island, having direct flights with the United Kingdom, and their scientific ability to sequence viruses on the islands.

So your country Is studying British tourists can travel to Balearic and Canary Islands from May if the incidence of coronavirus is low, Regardless of the state of epidemiology in the rest of Spain.

The British government has taken Balearic’s request “very seriously” and is “coincidental of interests” so that, according to the ambassador, the British can travel to their traditional holiday destinations “as soon as possible”.

In any case, he insisted, the British government would inform on 17 May whether it allowed its citizens to travel abroad, in which countries and under what circumstances, as well as the anti-Kovid test that would give them on their return have to present.