EU Parliament Gives Green Light to COVID-19 Travel Certificates
The European Union’s Parliament has given its nod to the establishment of a certificate in order to restore the freedom of travel within the block, over a year after the Member States started introducing border controls and entry bans on each other’s citizens in a bid to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus in their territory.
The MEPs adopted their negotiating position on the proposal for such a document to be created while agreeing that instead of the Digital Green Certificate, as proposed by the Commission, the certificate should be called the “EU COVID-19 certificate”.
The proposal has been approved by 540 MEPs, while 119 have voted against and another 31 abstained, on Wednesday, while the results were announced on Thursday.
According to a press release of the Parliament, the certificate should be in place for a maximum of 12 months, and not longer.
“The document, which may be in digital or paper format, will attest that a person has been vaccinated against coronavirus or, alternatively, that they have a recent negative test result or have recovered from the infection,” the press release reads.
It also reiterates the fact that these certificates should not serve as travel documents or become a precondition for travelling, which concern had previously been raised by the Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee during a meeting in mid-April.
The Council of the European Union had later on called attention to this concern, warning that the Commission must not permit the certificates to become a ‘de facto’ precondition for travelling.
Commenting the vote in plenary, the Chair of the Civil Liberties Committee and rapporteur Juan Fernando López Aguilar said that the EU COVID-19 Certificate must be put in place in order to re-establish people’s confidence in the freedom of movement, while the fight against the virus goes on.
“Member States must coordinate their response in a safe manner and ensure the free movement of citizens within the EU. Vaccines and tests must be accessible and free for all citizens. Member States should not introduce further restrictions once the certificate is in force,” Aguilar said.
The other MEPs have also called on the Member States to refrain from imposing additional travel restrictions on travellers holding EU COVID-19 certificates, including here quarantine, self-isolation or testing.
They also insist that the EU countries should “ensure universal, accessible, timely and free of charge testing” in order to avoid the discrimination of those who are not vaccinated.
According to the press release, the Member States should accept the vaccination certificates issued in the other Member States for citizens who have been fully vaccinated with one of the vaccines authorized by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
The Parliament’s green light to the certificates confirms warning of April 2020 of AtoZSerwisPlus.pl, when the same had warned on the possibility that the EU could use such a tool in order to restore travel within the block amid the pandemic after an EU official had confirmed the information. The same official had also noted that third country citizens might be obliged to present vaccination proof in order to apply for a visa to the EU and Schengen Area countries.
