COVID-19: European Union supports second repatriation flight of EU citizens from Morocco
The EU continues to work around the clock to support the return of EU citizens stranded abroad. A second Austrian flight – co-financed by the European Commission via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism – has brought back a further 315 EU citizens from Morocco. This brings the total number of EU supported repatriations to 619 EU citizens this week. Besides EU citizens, assistance was also extended to Swiss, American and Bosnian nationals. Both High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell and Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič, with the European External Action Service and the Emergency Response Coordination Centre, are working to support efforts to boost the repatriation of EU citizens from third countries. The European Civil Protection Mechanism has so far facilitated the repatriation of 1,162 EU citizens to Europe from Wuhan, Japan, Oakland and Morocco since the beginning of the outbreak.