From this Wednesday, Italy has reopened its borders to European tourists, marking another step towards normalization and the revival of tourism as summer approaches. Meanwhile, France continues to enforce strict entry rules into its territory before opening its borders on June 15.
As a result, at the Menton border crossing, the queues stretched several kilometers with French people who—after weeks of lockdown—suddenly felt the urge to go buy cigarettes or enjoy a good coffee in Ventimiglia, and Italians residing on the Côte d’Azur who wanted to make the round trip for various reasons. In short, everyone had the travel itch.
The customs police were ordered to manage this chaos, requiring travelers to either have an “international travel certificate” or provide a “valid reason to go to Italy,” which in turn created slowdowns in the flow.
Of course, it would have been better if the reestablishment of travel between European countries had been coordinated among all the States and not done in a disorderly way, with time lags as each country saw fit.
But what can you do, Europe is rich in its diversity!
Alerted to this situation, which risks creating bigger problems than it aims to solve (such as controlling illegal immigration), the prefecture of Alpes-Maritimes issued a statement in the evening. While reminding that “it remains essential to have the exceptional international travel certificate available to present in case of inspection,” it adds that “instructions have been given to ease entry points, notably by relaxing checks for French nationals.”
