BRUSSELS, Aug 6 - The European Union will consider the list of countries from which non-essential travel is allowed under coronavirus restrictions and could reconsider the inclusion of the United States, said an EU official on Friday.
The EU list currently includes two dozen countries, including the United States, Japan and Australia, which are considered safe from a health perspective under the ongoing pandemic.
The next week's meeting could also assess the situation in relation to the United States, one EU official told Reuters, without elaborating because no decision has been made yet.
In parallel, EU officials regularly review the list of pandemics as the pandemic develops.
The bloc has repeatedly asked Washington to let in EU citizens after the United States was added to the so-called white list in June in June.
Many representatives of the EU Member States and from the U.S. have spoken to our U.S. counterparts about the plans to reopen the country for visitors from the EU countries, in particular after Europe's step to allow the visa of Slovenian citizens, said a spokesperson for the United States-EU presidency.
We all consider successful U.S. contacts to be the building block of strong, successful transatlantic partnership and alliance, so we keep reminding, asking and encouraging our U.S. friends to follow suit, the spokesperson added.
The list is non binding, although EU governments tend to apply it. However, they can ignore it and let citizens from countries which are not on the list or vice versa.
The 27 nations bloc is divided among states who are pushing for reciprocity from the U.S., and others who are more dependent on tourism and could be reluctant to remove Washington from the list, officials have said.