Italy has temporarily suspended the Schengen Treaty due to the G7 Summit meeting in Italy this month.
Passport controls are therefore in place between Italy and the other Schengen Zone member states.
Allow a few more minutes at airports also for intra-Schengen flights.
Ah the pleasure of having the big wigs come to town.
All the taxes on spending by everyone on an expense account associated with the meeting will just about cover all the OT the passport control office will incur...... they will have extra folk, right?
Why can't they hold these G7 summits at the Diego Garcia Military Base in the middle of the Indian Ocean where they'd cause no disruption?
Someone told me Trump is traveling with an entourage of about one thousand. At least here in Israel. I sure hope he's taking them all on to Italy and not leaving any behind.
Our last President deigned to visit Green Bay a couple of times during his tenure. You could not move in the city for 3 hours and the police OT budget for the entire month was spent in a day. I guess these folks have to get a little face-time now and then, but I like the idea Diego Garcia. St Helena anyone? I hear Napoleon loved it.
Roberto
Great idea about Diego Garcia, except isn't that where the Martians hired by the CIA ( or was it the KGB) are hiding MH370?
Oops --- a bit off topic-- my apologies
Ask the folks in NYC and Palm Beach what it costs (in dollars and aggravation) to have a president commute among residences. Every freaking week.
Since the G7 will be held in Taormina, hopefully if won't cause too much disruption in the rest of Italy. They sure picked a great location for their holiday (sorry, meeting), especially at taxpayer expense. Hopefully something worthwhile is accomplished.
I agree with the idea of holding these in someplace like Diego Garcia, as that would cause a lot less disruption and no protests. Many years ago, a G8 conference was held in Kananaskis, Alberta and there was little disruption. That location was selected as it's somewhat isolated, and therefore easier for security. Police reportedly outnumbered protesters six to one, and they were augmented by the Army.
Well, we already had one poster complain that her cruise ship cancelled its Taormina excursion because of this and it was the prime reason for booking the cruise. So I hope they enjoy their holiday, they already screwed up somebody else's.
We had to completely redo our schedule because they are basically closing down Taormina for the G7.
Matteo Renzi planned to have it in Florence when the planning started a couple years ago, then logistical reasons forced a change of venue.
What's wrong with Gitmo for the meeting?
Yeah, a tropical paradise.
And easy to secure. With no tourists gumming up the works.
I get very cynical about any report that says "borders being closed" or "Schengen suspended", especially from the English-language media. It is because I live very close to a border and know the practicalities. Schengen has been in place over 20 years. In that time new cross-border roads have been built, border posts have been pulled down to speed up traffic, new bus and train services have been introduced across borders and cross-border commuting has grown immensely.
It is simply not practical to re-introduce the old checks of everyone. The thousands of staff needed are not available, and the delay to travellers would cause howls of outrage. Even pre-Schengen, there were lots of back roads, footpaths etc. that only local residents were authorised to use.
Yes, they can add extra checks at airports, but the airlines already have details of all passengers, so the info is already available to intelligence services. This meeting is in Sicily, that makes sense, "they" have data on everybody flying in, and it is easy to put checks on the ferries from the Italian mainland. Blanket checks on everyone entering Italy would be a massive and expensive waste of resources.
Conclusion: This should not cause major disruption to travellers entering Italy.
I dunno, it rings true for me. Given what happened in Genoa some years ago, the Italians are, if possible, probably even more sensitive about keeping out the "riff-raff" this time and ensuring the summit comes off without such dramatic protests.
The checks is in place to stop the Black Block protesters/hooligans descending from other European member states
Hi everyone,
Total newbie here, so I apologize if this is a dumb question, but my husband and I are headed to Italy on Saturdayfor our honeymoon after a first stop in Paris and we weren't sure what all of this means for us in terms of what to expect and if our regular US passports will still get us in without any additional visas. Air France sent an email about it but didn't give me much info when I called.
Thanks so much for the help! This is our first international trip so we are a bit anxious.
Vanessa,
Unless you are going to Taormina you are unlikely to be affected. Your trip from Paris to Italy may entail a passport check. Normally this is not necessary.
Congratulations and enjoy your honeymoon.
We are going to Rome, Florence and Venice. That's such a relief, I was worried it would be something much more complicated. Thanks so much!
