Speeches

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen. It is, of course, regrettable that drastic travel restrictions during the COVID pandemic have restricted the free movement of people and have, of course, harmed tourism, which is dependent on the free movement of people. Unfortunately, we – and also the Commission – have not been able to find a uniform approach here and to oblige states to introduce uniform rules. Of course there was also a lot of nationalism, also a lot of egoism. The slogan ‘take a holiday at home’ is not very European, and some states have deliberately introduced rules to prevent people from travelling. One example, which is unfortunately far from positive, is that of the EU Digital Travel Form. I believe that the Commission has drawn up a good model for this. Three Member States out of 27 have used it so far. The other Member States use their own models, which is anything but a European approach. But it doesn't help at all if we just look back now. We need to look forward. We are just a few months away from a winter season. The last winter season has completely failed in parts of Europe, and we must now also give new hope to the surgeons. Travelling doesn't get more dangerous because you're crossing a border. We need to know that tourism is an elixir of life, especially for many rural areas in Europe. We have to make sure that this elixir of life flows again and these regions get back on their feet.