In this photographic illustration, a French passport and an International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis are shown in front of Berlaymont, the headquarters of the EU Commission on March 13, 2021 in Brussels, Belgium.
Thierry Monasse | Getty Images
LONDON – The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, on Wednesday proposed a vaccination certificate for citizens as a way to boost tourism-related activities this summer.
Tourism-dependent economies, such as Greece, have been pushing for a common EU system that would restore some travel in the region this summer. These countries struggled with fewer visitors during 2020 and are eager to get people back to avoid more serious economic scars.
As a result, the commission suggested that EU citizens should be allowed to use a “digital green certificate” to prove that they have been vaccinated against the virus; that they received a negative Covid-19 test; or they recovered after contracting the coronavirus.
The idea with the other two options besides vaccination is to avoid criticism that the document will discriminate against those who have not yet received the vaccine. However, some countries, including France, are suspicious of the idea, as young people are in the last row to receive the vaccine.
Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “The certificate will ensure that the results, which shows, the data, the minimum data set are mutually recognized in each member state. “
“Our goal is to help member states to restore freedom of movement in a safe, responsible and reliable way,” he added.
In addition, a vaccine certificate is somewhat difficult to swallow for some EU countries, given the region’s freedom of movement policy. Until the coronavirus arrived and, in most cases, European citizens could move from one country to another without checking their passport.
The European Commission also said Wednesday that all vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency should be automatically recognized by other member states under this new system. However, countries that so wish, could also recognize vaccines that have not yet been approved by the European regulator.
Hungary, for example, is inoculating citizens with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine and also with China’s injection. They have not yet been approved by the EMA.
The document is expected to contain only a very specific set of data: the citizen’s name and date of birth, the date of issue of the certificate, relevant information about a vaccine, test or recovery and a unique identifier name.
“This cannot be maintained by the countries visited,” the commission said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Brussels-based institution also said that the certificate will be free, available in the language of the issuing country and also in English, and that it is only a temporary mechanism.
“It will be suspended as soon as the World Health Organization declares an end to Covid-19’s international health emergency,” the commission said in a document.
Wednesday’s proposal will be discussed at the next European summit later this month. Speaking in February, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it could take three months to implement a digital certificate.
The different EU countries and the European Parliament must approve the commission’s proposal before it can be implemented.