Portugal “made the right decision” when closing to “respond to the pandemic”

The President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, considered that the internal borders of the Member States should be avoided, but that areas recommended for non-essential travel should be differentiated.

“We took an important step in the last European Council videoconference, when we decided that, as we are more or less an epidemiological region, we must differentiate the areas where non-essential movements should be discouraged at this time,” said von der Leyen in an interview with Public on Monday.

The responsible welcomed the decision made by Portugal. “I am impressed with the Portuguese Government, which I think made the right decision to promote the closure of the country for a short time to respond to the pandemic,” he said.

The European Union, he continued, “must do everything possible to avoid closing internal borders, because it is important that the flows of supply and movements of essential cross-border workers are not in the least hampered.”