The European Commission has said travel and border restrictions imposed by six European Union nations to contain the spread of COVID-19 variants are too tight and could undermine free movement within the bloc.

It sought to push through a coordinated approach to managing the movement of goods and people within the union.

Letters were sent on February 22 to Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary and Sweden, highlighting a risk of "fragmentation and disruptions to free movement and to supply chains," Commission spokesman Christian Wigand told journalists.

According to the the letter, the EU's aim is, "the preservation of the functioning of the single market during a volatile economic period, as well as the protection of family life during a time of significantly reduced social contacts outside the core family."

The Commission has asked Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary and Sweden to justify restrictions, which Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders described as having "gone too far."

It has given the countries until late next week to respond, failing which, it could theoretically start proceedings for breach of EU laws. 

READ MORE

UK's four-step plan to end lockdown

France's cow therapist

How much is a life worth?

Germany's 'difficult' decision

Germany strongly rejected the idea that its strict restrictions on traffic from Austria's Tyrol region and from Czechia and Slovakia are against the EU rules.

"I reject the accusation that we have not complied with EU law," Michael Roth, Europe minister for Germany, said in Brussels, where he was attending a meeting of EU counterparts.

He said Germany had made the "difficult" decision because of the fear of highly contagious coronavirus variants and because of Germany's position as "a transit country in the middle of the European Union."

The Commission's letter to Germany, obtained by the AFP news agency, said Germany was not applying all the ban exemptions set out by the EU recommendations.

It also noted that the spread of variants in Czechia and Slovakia was no worse than in some other EU countries.

And it took exception to German authorities requiring COVID-19 test results to be issued in English, German, French or Italian, saying results in Czech or Slovak should also be accepted.

Germany has also been in talks with France on averting similar measures in the Moselle region that straddles the Franco-German border.

There has been a surge in a more easily transmissible variant of COVID-19 in the French part of the region, which also stretches into Luxembourg.

'Disruptions to free movement'

Reynders said the EU's 27 member states needed to "go back to a coordinated approach to all the measures taken in relation with the free movement of people and goods."

In a patchwork response to the threatened spread of more contagious coronavirus variants, nine EU countries have reinstated border controls in what is normally the bloc's free travel zone.

The Commission is, however, focusing on the six with additional restrictions on movement including a complete ban on non-essential trips in and out of the country.

"These measures obviously put a massive strain on border regions ... but the protection of our citizens is paramount," said Roth, as he defended Berlin's actions prior to the talks with his EU counterparts.

His French peer Clement Beaune said that Berlin and Paris had given themselves 48 hours to coordinate health measures such as increased testing in the Moselle region in an effort to keep that part of the border open to workers.

France's President Emmanuel Macron has consistently advocated that internal borders between EU countries must remain open and clashed with Germany last year after Berlin closed its borders during the first wave of the pandemic.

Germany now aims to avoid the kinds of strict border measures that were in place in 2020, according to sources in Berlin.

"We trust that we will find solutions with member states concerned without having to revert to legal steps, which can be lengthy," said Wigand.

EU leaders are to discuss the virus situation in the bloc on Thursday and Friday, during a summit via video link.