For four years we’ve viewed nearly every EU-related event through the lens of Brexit. To do it this time would be wrong
Though a ban on freight from the UK was imposed this weekend, France and some other European Union countries hope to be able to ease the restriction from Wednesday – for lorry drivers, returning citizens and other travellers who can prove they have recently tested negative for coronavirus.
Emergency EU talks will be held in Brussels today on how to organise and police a system of checks at airports, Channel ports and the Eurotunnel. And senior EU leaders held a series of crisis talks by phone and videoconference last night. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, spoke privately to Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the pair also spoke to the European council president, Charles Michel, and European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen.