EU urges member states to coordinate lockdown exit strategies

The European Commission has urged EU member states to coordinate as they begin to ease lockdown restrictions, warning that failure to do so could result in new spikes of the coronavirus epidemic.

Several EU states have announced plans or have already begun to relax restrictions imposed to contain the outbreak.

The EU executive arm has no power to dictate health measures to the 27 EU states. However, it has repeatedly called for a common approach as the states acted independently of each other in tackling the virus, and are now proceeding in the same way in their exit strategies from lockdowns.

“It is time to develop a well-coordinated EU exit strategy,” the Commission said in a draft set of recommendations, which it is expected to adopt this week. “The exit strategy should be coordinated between the member states, to avoid negative spillover effects,” the document said, according to Reuters.