A passenger drives a suitcase through a deserted arrivals hall at Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid.
Photographer: Paul Hanna / Bloomberg
Photographer: Paul Hanna / Bloomberg
A proposal to grant special privileges to vaccinees is gaining momentum in Europe, in the face of a decisive appeal from leaders in the region, as an increase in coronavirus infections lowers hopes of a quick exit from economic blocks.
During a video conference on January 21, European Union leaders will discuss the introduction of a “vaccination certificate” that would allow cardholders to travel freely, said several diplomats familiar with the preparations for the virtual meeting. The proposal enjoys growing support, said an EU official, while another diplomat warned that there is resistance from other governments and that any limits on freedom of movement for that reason may be illegal.
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The proposal to introduce such a certificate gained momentum after the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, formally requested it with a letter to the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, earlier this week. With vaccination campaigns moving at a turtle pace, a decision to extend the privileges across the EU to vaccines that are not yet available to everyone in the bloc, due to limited supply, may not come soon.
Still, countries desperate to at least partially restore travel could act alone, as border control is a national competence and EU coordination, while requested, is not mandatory. The commission, the EU’s executive arm in Brussels, said it was discussing with the bloc’s national capitals about the idea of vaccination certificates as part of efforts to keep internal borders open.
New proposal
“We are in active discussions with member states on the recognition of vaccination certificates, just as we are working on the recognition of tests,” said Stefan De Keersmaecker, the Commission’s spokesman for transport and health, on Thursday. “This is an important issue for free movement in the EU.”
The EU official said the leaders are likely to ask the commission to come up with a proposal for a vaccination certificate during next week’s conference call. The leaders will also ask the executive for actions to speed up vaccinations and increase production capacity.
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Suppliers started todeploy applications that can safely store health information, such as test results, vaccination status or proof of having had Covid-19, and be used by airlines to accelerate transit based on policies that vary by country.
The calls come at a time when the EU is lagging behind the United States, the United Kingdom and countries like Israel and the United Arab Emirates in vaccinating its population. The delays mean that the blockages will last longer, postponing the recovery from the most severe recession block of which there is memory.
“We must explore all possible avenues to encourage private companies to increase vaccine production and deliveries to member states,” said Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a January 13 letter to von der Leyen. Finnish Premier Sanna Marin, in a January 11 letter to the committee chairman, said: “There is an urgent need to increase the production capacity of different vaccines and, at the same time, speed up shipments to member states.”
– With the help of Paul Tugwell, Sotiris Nikas, Christopher Jasper, Siddharth Vikram Philip and Charlotte Ryan