Brussels travel certificate aims to dampen vaccine passport debate
System to allow governments to decide which non-approved vaccines are valid for travel
When is an EU vaccine passport not quite an EU vaccine passport? The European Commission hopes to answer that question on Wednesday when it unveils plans for a “digital green certificate” to get free movement going again inside the bloc.
The proposal — which contains neither the word vaccine nor passport — is Brussels’ attempt to assuage concerns from some countries that vaccine passports are discriminatory, while also helping tourism-reliant economies drum up business ahead of the lucrative summer months.
To avoid accusations that the system could be biased, EU travellers will need either proof of vaccination, a negative Covid-19 test or proof of recovery from the virus to avoid quarantine measures when travelling to other member states. The FT has the details.
The debate around an EU-wide system of travel documentation has proven surprisingly tetchy in recent weeks.
France’s president Emmanuel Macron last month led the charge against vaccine passports, claiming that they would disadvantage those last in line for jabs.
The likes of Austria and Greece, meanwhile, have been at the forefront of calling for a common system of rules to jump-start free movement and help out holiday destinations battered by the virus.
Another flashpoint has been how to classify vaccines not yet approved by EU regulators — such as Russia’s Sputnik V and China’s Sinopharm. Hungary has approved both the Russian and Chinese jabs, but neither has been given formal approval by the European Medicines Agency.
The digital certificate plan says all EMA approved vaccines are eligible under the scheme. But it gives national governments the power to decide whether or not they will consider non-EMA-authorised jabs as sufficient for travel into their countries.
That means a Hungarian with a Sputnik jab may be allowed free travel to Cyprus if Cypriot authorities allow it — but that same traveller may not be permitted to travel to Germany if Berlin does not consider it valid under the certificate.
The EU certification plan will be a boost to the travel sector that has begun piloting its own digital passport schemes — including with airlines such as British Airways. The commission will urge governments and MEPs to rubber-stamp the proposal in record time to put the legislation in place as people begin to make their summer holiday plans.