Freedom (or not) of Movement

All eyes were on Italy this past week as it became the European nation with the most cases of COVID-19, triggering calls for Schengen restrictions. As La Repubblica reports, the Italians do not want to isolate their nation from the rest of Europe, but to manage the issue at local levels. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced that measures will be taken in the areas of outbreak in order to contain the spread, with the collaboration between law enforcement and the general public. Several other ministers have already taken steps in limiting public gatherings, such as cancelling school trips and sporting events. Furthermore, the Italian officials have indicated that affected municipalities may also see the temporary closure of workplaces and businesses, but accessing essential public services remains possible (albeit conditional). And so, Italy has taken the steps to quarantining local municipalities following last week’s rise in COVID-19 cases. Interestingly enough however, La Repubblica reports that Prime Minister Conte is staunchly against closing the national borders, due to the potential impact to the Italian economy if that were to happen.

Along the lines of entry restrictions, German news agency Zeit Online recently wrote an article on the immigration reform currently underway in Great Britain. British Home Secretary Priti Patel proposed an immigration law where a new points system will be put in place, essentially making it harder for unskilled migrants to enter into the country, and emphasising the preference for scientists, engineers, academics, etc. The issue, writes Zeit, is that the law does not take into account the need for manual labour. Traditionally, many Europeans (from the CEE countries especially) took on the brunt of the work in the UK – which will now change in the post-Brexit setting. The points system does not favour food sector workers from Bulgaria or Romania, for example. They tend to dominate the slaughterhouse industry - many had entered the country untrained, having learned the necessary skills only once they began working. The head of the British Meat Processors Association, Nick Allen, is worried that the immigration law will make things difficult for the industry because job turnover is high – leading to a need of new workers every 3-4 years. Zeit mentions that out of 75,000 workers in British slaughterhouses, about 50,000 are from Eastern Europe.

Having recently announced its first COVID-19 case in the country, the Estonian government is planning to implement additional controls at their border as a result of the spread of the virus, reports ERR News.  The minister of Social Affairs Tanel Kiik announced that, though it would be virtually impossible to monitor everyone who enters into the country, the government still hopes to have ‘risk and case-based controls’. After having set up a task force to tackle the issue at hand, the Estonians have found that it is not (currently) a necessity to close their borders – only to screen those coming from affected areas. ERR News also reports that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has ceased issuing Estonian tourist visas to people in China and advises against travelling to risk areas. The government officials have also mentioned that there may yet be additional travel restrictions, but that consular services and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue be at the disposal of the Estonian citizens.