France and Germany impose weekly Covid tests on border workers

Borders between France and Germany will be required to regularly provide proof of a negative PCR test from March 1, with authorities on both sides hoping to avoid a complete closure of the border to stop the spread of Covid-19.

The French government said on Thursday it would tighten controls at the German border to slow infections, as the coronavirus continues to spread rapidly in the eastern Moselle region.

From Monday, March 1, border workers commuting between Germany and Moselle will have to undergo a weekly Covid-19 PCR test before being allowed to cross, said Health Minister Olivier Véran and the Minister of European Affairs Clément Beaune in a joint press release.

The move follows a warning from the German government last week that it was considering further travel restrictions at the French border due to the increase in coronavirus variants.

European Union (EU) leaders held a video summit on Thursday to discuss issues related to Covid, including border closures, for which Germany and other members have been berated by the European Commission.

The hard-hit French department of Moselle was in the process of concluding its own agreements with neighboring regions of Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate, Chancellor Angela Merkel said after the summit.

Prime Minister of the Saarland, Tobias Hans, told ARD state television: “We must have similar measures on the German side.”

No closures ‘for now’

“Border closures are not on the agenda at the moment,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin, adding that the situation of Germany’s borders with the Czech Republic and the Austrian region of Tyrol, which were closed, was “very different”.

The closure of the Franco-German border in spring 2020 during the first pandemic wave created tensions between neighboring countries, even at the level of local populations.

French border workers with Luxembourg will not be affected by the new PCR test requirement.

Elsewhere, with the exception of cross-border workers from the EU, travelers arriving in France must present a negative PCR test.

French ministers said joint Franco-German border police patrols “could be stepped up” to ensure compliance.

(with AFP)