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The draft vaccine passport, the so-called digital green certificate, states that the passport provides proof that a person has been vaccinated against COVID-19, is ill and has acquired immunity, or that the COVID-19 test is negative. The proposal for this project was approved and submitted on Wednesday, writes brusselstimes.com.
The draft makes suggestions to Member States on how they can establish a coordinated system, which necessarily satisfies different requirements and includes a “digital green certificate”, which is expected to be free of charge.
The proposal will now be submitted to the European Parliament and the EU Member States for approval. Then it will be possible to implement a digital certificate project that will open the possibility of free travel between states.
The news came after the publication of data from the EU statistical office, Eurostat, which showed that the number of overnight stays in tourist accommodation in the EU as a whole fell by 52% in 2020 compared to the previous year.
In Belgium, between January and November 2020, only 19,749 overnight stays were recorded in tourist accommodation. During the same period of 2019, 39,732 overnight stays were registered, 20,000 more.
The unnecessary travel ban, which runs until at least April 19, is putting even more pressure on the country’s tourism sector. As a result, the Belgian Association of Tour Operators, Tour Operators and Travel Agents has requested the Belgian Government to resume unnecessary travel.
“Now is the time to resume unnecessary travel. After all, it will take time for things to get back to work as they should,” explained Christel Somers, director and spokesperson for the Montana tour operator.
However, Belgian Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmes previously warned that Belgium will not use digital passports to renew trips.
“Belgium is not considering linking vaccination with freedom of movement in Europe. It is incomparably more important to respect the principle of non-discrimination, because vaccination is not compulsory and there is no universal access to the vaccine,” the Minister explained.
European Union Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said two weeks ago that, to avoid discrimination, digital passports must include not only information about vaccines, but also information about a recent PCR test or natural immunity.
The European Commission says it will establish a digital infrastructure by the summer to facilitate the verification of digital green certificates. The EC hopes that Member States will implement the necessary changes in their national medical record systems.
Certificates will be ready by June 1st.
EC Vice President Margaritis Schin told the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that vaccination certificates should be available in a few months.
“The certificate should be ready for use in early summer, and summer begins June 1,” Schin said.
Although the EC argues that such a document would be a vaccination certificate and not a vaccination passport, its objective nonetheless is to encourage travel between EU countries and even outside the Community.
The certificate would indicate whether the person has received a negative COVID-19 test, has recently recovered from the disease, or has been vaccinated against it.
It is not yet clear whether the general population will be able to benefit from the vaccination passport. EU countries and the European Parliament have not yet agreed on this proposal.
Some countries have expressed doubts about such plans.
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