French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview on “Face the Nation” on April 18 that his country is finalizing plans to welcome U.S. citizens — provided they have received their COVID-19 vaccines. France’s borders are currently closed to travelers from countries outside the “European Area,” with the exception of the UK, Australia, South Korea, Israel, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore.
“We will progressively lift the restrictions of the beginning of May, which means that we will organize in the summertime with our professionals in France for French European citizens, but as well for American citizens,” Macron said in the interview. He said the country’s ministers are in the process of finalizing plans to ease restrictions on international travel from the U.S. and other European countries for travelers with a negative COVID test or proof of vaccination.
“So we are working hard to propose a very concrete solution, especially for U.S. citizens who are vaccinated; so with a special pass, I would say,” Macron said.
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The country is still under lockdown conditions, including prohibition of group gatherings, because of a surge in COVID-19 variants. “The idea indeed is altogether to offer that to the American citizen when they decide to vaccinate or with a PCR test being negative,” Macron added.
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But will Americans want to travel to France in a few weeks? The U.S. State Department’s France Travel Advisory warns, “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Level 4 Travel Health Notice for France due to COVID-19, indicating a very high level of COVID-19 in the country.”
A replay of the interview and a full transcript is available here.
