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🔔 Europe's losing another tourist season

Today's Opening Belle is brought to you by our partners, Equos and Utrust.

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Merkel's bid to 'BAN THE BRITS' has been met with a predictable response in the media 👇👇👇

Travel stocks such as TUI, and major European airlines took a hit.  

This situation is symbolic.

Let's head back to July 2020.

The EU recovery fund was agreed and proudly announced as a symbol of a strong and united Europe 💪 👇👇👇

Less than a year has passed and the EU is anything but United...

The headlines speak for themselves 👇

Look at the language

Merkel scolds Greece, chides Portugal, impose EU-wide quarantine..

Once again, the power dynamic is in play.

This has nothing to do with Brexit or punishing the U.K.

The same concerns were expressed for Greece and Cyprus.

Both have waived quarantine requirements for visitors with Russia’s Sputnik and China’s Sinopharm shots, even though these vaccines are not approved by EU regulators.

Some have suggested that this IS all about German politics, with the CDU/CSU party potentially facing a genuine challenge in the September elections (and another Covid resurgence could swing voters).

Perhaps it comes down to the differing attitudes (within the EU) over what the EU actually is and how it should work.

On tourism, this divide is clearly along the lines of all together (Germany, France) or each country decides for themselves (basically everyone else)  👇

German, French leaders 'aghast at lack of coordination in EU'

Spain was against Merkel’s plan, saying each EU country should be able to make its own decision about who to admit, as is their legal right

Dutch Prime Minister Rutte: "We see some differences now, for example Malta and Spain, being a bit more lenient, maybe some other member states but that's up to them, they can do that."

Greek prime minister Mitsotakis: "My personal assessment - which I believe is shared by the majority of the European Council - is that there is no need to impose additional restrictions on travel from countries where this mutation already exists and its spread is more pronounced."

"There is an answer to the question of variants - and in particular the Delta variants - and that is to speed up the vaccination process."

Tourism has already taken an enormous hit...

And losing another summer to Covid will have a further negative impact on employment, especially in the tourism-dependent Southern nations.

Attitudes to risk need to evolve... 👇👇👇

Can the EU learn to take risks or are they doomed to continue the current path of sluggish growth & minimal innovation which produces such undesirable outcomes as persistently high youth unemployment?

If they can't change course now... when will they?

That Germany attempted to ban British travellers from the European Union regardless of whether or not they have had a COVID-19 vaccine suggests that this lesson has still not been learnt.

Studies have already shown that vaccinations are highly effective against the latest variant 👇

Some risk has to be accepted if the world is ever going to return to 'normal'...

Away from the tourism side of things, Merkel & Macron also misread the feeling on Russia... 👇👇

Merkel's response to this rejection?

But isn't that the problem?

There is no 'sovereign EU'. There never has been.  

The pandemic offered an opportunity for reform. It was not taken.

Wounds have not healed, the age-old problems have not been resolved and a divided EU looks as weak as it ever has, just as the two largest nations head into some tricky elections.