BRUSSELS – Pressed by member states desperate to save the summer tourist season, the European Union on Wednesday proposed a Covid-19 certificate that would allow people to travel more freely.
The proposed document, known as the Green Digital Certificate, would allow European residents and their families to travel freely through the block, provided they have proof of vaccination against Covid-19, a negative test result or a documented recovery from the virus.
The certificates would be free and available in digital or paper format.
“The Green Digital Certificate will not be a precondition for freedom of movement and will not discriminate in any way,” said Didier Reynders, the bloc’s chief justice official, adding that the objective was “to gradually restore freedom of movement within and avoid fragmentation. “
Freedom of movement is the cornerstone of the bloc, but travel restrictions have traditionally been under the purview of national governments. The commission’s plan is yet another attempt to coordinate what is now a chaotic patchwork of disparate national measures, significantly hampering travel within the previously borderless zone.
Under the proposed rules, national governments could decide which travel restrictions, such as mandatory quarantine, would be lifted for certificate holders.
The proposal, which needs to be approved by the European Parliament and most member states, comes at a time when many European countries are experiencing a third wave of infections and also a slow effort of mass inoculation, hampered by doubts about a shot from AstraZeneca. Several countries have suddenly suspended the use of the vaccine, at least temporarily, confusing citizens and possibly increasing resistance to vaccines.
So far, only 9.8% of European Union residents have been vaccinated, leaving the bloc far behind Britain and the United States.
On Wednesday, top EU officials acknowledged the slow start to the bloc’s vaccination campaign and renewed criticism of “other vaccine-producing countries” that they said were piling up doses, highlighting Britain.
“We want to see reciprocity and proportionality in exports and we are ready to use whatever tool we need to achieve this goal,” said Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission. “It is about ensuring that Europe receives its share”.
His comments were the last round of a long-standing rivalry between Brussels and London over vaccines.
The commission’s goal of vaccinating 70 percent of the adult population by the end of the summer appears to be disappearing, especially as the largest European countries have suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine due to reports of some cases of severe blood clots among those who received it. The suspension could be lifted soon, but serious production problems have made millions of doses of AstraZeneca the least available.
The problems have been a shame for the European Union and its executive arm, the Commission, which has taken control of the procurement process, although member states are responsible for issuing vaccines.
But Europeans, kept under one of the longest and most rigid roadblocks in the world, are experiencing profound pandemic fatigue, further complicating the way out of the crisis.
The commission also outlined a long-term strategy to gradually suspend blockade measures, depending on the epidemiological situation in each country. A trial would be made based on simulations by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, the commission said.
“The situation with the virus in Europe is still very challenging,” said Stella Kyriakides, the bloc’s top health official. “It is only through a joint approach that we can safely return to full freedom of movement in the EU”
The proposal does not change Europe’s current rules on travel abroad. The bloc restricted non-essential travel from countries outside the bloc, with a small number of exceptions, based on infection rates. Travelers who do not reside in the EU can receive a Covid-19 certificate, but only if their visit to Europe falls under one of these exceptions.
In the meantime, some member countries are leaving on their own, eager to reopen for non-European tourists. Greece has already signed an agreement with Israel and is working on similar agreements with 10 more countries, including Britain, Canada and the United States.
The Commission’s plan would have to be approved by the European Parliament and most Member States. The goal is to operationalize the certificates by mid-June, to redeem the summer.
The initial impetus for some type of vaccination certificate came from countries heavily dependent on tourism, led by Greece, while others, including France and Germany, were also concerned about the potential for discrimination between vaccinated and unvaccinated Europeans. as privacy issues.
National governments were also divided over which vaccines should be included in the pass. Hungary is inoculating its citizens with the Russian Sputnik vaccine and the injection made by Sinopharm, a Chinese state-owned company, although none of them have been approved by the European Medicines Agency and other nations are looking to do the same.
In a spirit of compromise, the commission proposed that all vaccines approved by the EU regulator should be included in the pass, but it gave member states discretionary powers to recognize vaccines that have not yet been authorized in Europe.
Many countries have reintroduced border controls and began to require quarantine for travelers arriving in recent months, as more contagious variants of the virus began to spread rapidly, a bleak replication of the first wave of the pandemic. Some countries, such as Belgium, which borders four other EU nations, have completely banned non-essential travel.
Any discussion of the Covid-19 certificate is likely to focus on data protection and privacy rights, said Juan Fernando López Aguilar, a European socialist lawmaker in Spain. “We need to make sure that every step we take is compatible with the fundamental rights of the citizen,” he said.
Guntram Wolff, director of Bruegel, a research group focused on economic policy in Europe, said that vaccination verification and testing are “absolutely essential” for the reopening of the tourism sector.
“Once a person is vaccinated and the evidence shows that they can no longer transmit the virus, how can you justify restricting their basic freedoms?” he asked.
“The EU has been slow, as countries disagree about which trips should be allowed,” he said. “They even disagree about which vaccines are safe.”