Lawmakers clear EU COVID pass but it may not ensure smooth travel
European lawmakers on Thursday approved the creation of an EU-wide COVID-19 certificate sought by southern member states to help revive summer tourism, but the move could be undermined by their differing vaccination and testing rules.
The fate of the project, which tourism-dependent countries Spain and Greece hope will help resuscitate their economies, hinges on further negotiations between EU lawmakers, member states and the European Union’s executive commission.
The plan aims to introduce a standard pass for people who have been vaccinated or tested negative for the virus to travel across the 27-nation bloc, but is complicated by member states’ differing goals and approaches to vaccination or testing.
National differences over recognising negative antibody tests on top of PCR tests, technical difficulties in creating a single EU gateway, worries about discrimination against those who have not been vaccinated, and privacy issues mean finding common ground across the EU might be tricky, diplomats said.
As a result, the likely result is a system that would introduce COVID certificates as a minimum common denominator but leave much leeway to each country on what rights they would be willing to grant to holders of such passes, they added.
In voting overwhelmingly for an “EU COVID-19 certificate”, the European Parliament said member states should not impose additional travel restrictions on those carrying such passes, and that they should make free testing widely available.
But the European Commission has proposed that countries should be able to retain extra requirements, as many member states also want.
Reflecting the confusion, Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said on Thursday: “The certificate is not about allowing or forbidding travel. It has nothing to do with that.
“It’s a system of information on your health status in relation to COVID…Member states have the prerogatives, the responsibility when it comes to health safety measures (required for entry); the green digital certificate does not change this.”
As the complex EU decision-making process grinds on, many countries are putting their own systems in place, heightening the risk of a disjointed set of rules that would fail to ensure uniform free travel across the bloc.
Hungary said on Thursday it would pursue bilateral deals on recognising COVID-19 vaccine certificates that would allow citizens to travel among participating countries.
Others, including Estonia, Lithuania, Greece, Spain, Germany and France, are introducing their own solutions to record vaccinations and member states would still be allowed to keep their own systems in place even once an EU-wide one is there.
They would be obliged to honour vaccines authorised for the whole bloc by the European Medicines Agency – including Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca – but each country would decide on its own how to treat people who received Russian or Chinese shots.
Source: Reuters
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2 Comments
The left-wing poofie-woofie / licky-licky / migrant-worshipping M.E.P.s in Brussels seem to think that THEY control the European Union.
What they choose to IGNORE is that the E.U. comprises a non-homogeneous agglutination of sovereign nations, many of whom suffered terribly for almost 50 years under brutal Soviet domination.
These reborn Stalinists and utterly ignorant political misfits are “living in a fools’ paradise” if they believe for one second that this particular “BRUSSELS EDICT” (concerning the bureaucratically-named ‘EU COVID-19 CERTIFICATE’) will be accepted by all E.U. member states, especially Hungary which – as usual – has been ‘singled out’ for what can only be labelled as “SPECIAL TREATMENT”.
It is all very reminiscent of what Hungary’s Jewish population suffered under Nazi occupation between 1944 and 1945, and in fact the entire country endured as the victim of ‘Western apathy / French hatred’ for at least another 45 years.
The sooner that the E.U. – and its pseudo-French (i.e. ‘Elmer Fudd’ Michel, the Belgian stooge of President Macron) and German (‘Lying Leyen’, the puppet of Frau Merkel) “Presidents” – ceases to exist, the better.
Europe will be a much better place in which to live WITHOUT such political aberrations as the European Council, European Commission and European Parliament.
And yes, Michel IS senior to that pseudo-aristocrat Von Leyen (who should stop whingeing about warming her bum on a very comfortable-looking sofa).
It just shows there is nothing like a European UNION! As soon as the s**t hits the fan it’s everyone for themselves! If the EU had not been so focused on playing their stupid power games and actually doing their job of supporting members, countries wouldn’t be in the position of trying to protect their citizens in anyway they can. EU is hell bent on retribution for any member who actually try to get vaccines that don’t come through the money grabbing EU procurement! Even Germany can’t get vaccines and are looking to use Sputnik. Does that mean they will be excluded from this farce as well?