At least ten people travelling from the UK have been turned away from the Netherlands following the end of the transition period after the UK’s exit from the European Union.
A spokesman for the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee police force told Dutch public broadcaster NOS that it had refused entry to ten Britons since 1 January.
Spokesman Robert van Kapel told the broadcaster, “They all have a negative PCR test, but they forget the basic rule that it must be a necessary trip, for example for work or due to serious private circumstances. People from a safe country are also allowed to pass, such as Australia or Singapore, but the United Kingdom is certainly not a safe country."
On 22 December, in response to a large number of countries restricting flights and banning travellers from the UK because of the new Covid variant identified in the country, the European Commission called on EU member states to lift blanket travel bans.
However, with the end of the Brexit transition period, the UK is now considered a “third country” and travellers do not have an automatic right to enter the EU.
Calling on EU countries to remove their blanket bans on travel from the UK, the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, said: “Given the current uncertainties and in light of the precautionary principle, member states should take coordinated action to discourage non-essential travel between the UK and the EU.”
A number of countries dropped their blanket bans on UK travellers from 1 January, including Estonia, Greece, Slovenia and Lithuania but require travellers to go into quarantine.