* EU Commission recommends lifting blanket UK travel bans
* Trucks stuck in queues in England
* UK isolated for second day as world closes borders
* EXPLAINER-The new coronavirus variant: (Adds detail on testing plans)
BRUSSELS/LONDON, Dec 22 (Reuters) - France will reopen its borders to passengers from England on Wednesday, ending a blockade intended to stop the spread of a new coronavirus variant, but which has held up thousands of lorries before Christmas.
Much of the world shut its borders to Britain after a significantly more transmissible mutated coronavirus variant was discovered spreading swiftly across southern England.
With queues of trucks snaking to the horizon in England and some supermarket shelves stripped just days before Christmas, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson scrambled to get French President Emmanuel Macron to lift a ban on freight from Britain.