EU sets out vaccine certificate plan to allow free travel by this summer

With summer looming and tourism-reliant countries anxiously waiting for the return of a steady influx of tourism income amid the pandemic, the European Union’s executive body presented a proposal Wednesday that would allow European citizens and residents — vaccinated or not — to travel freely across the 27-nation region by the summer. The plan, which will be discussed next week during a summit of EU leaders, foresees the creation of vaccine certificates aimed at facilitating travel from one member state to the other. The topic has been discussed for weeks and proved to be divisive. The travel industry and southern European countries dependent on tourism like Greece and Spain have been pushing for the quick introduction of the measure. But several member states, including France, argued that it would be premature and discriminatory to introduce such passes since a large majority of EU citizens haven’t had access to vaccines so far. According to data compiled by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, less than 5 per cent of European citizens have been fully vaccinated.

The European Commission, however, remains confident it can achieve its goal that 70 per cent of the EU adult population is vaccinated by the end of the summer. To secure the adhesion of all member states, the commission proposed that its so-called Digital Green Certificates, which should be free of charge, would be delivered to EU residents who can prove they have been vaccinated, but also to those who tested negative for the virus or have proof they recovered from it. “Being vaccinated will not be a precondition to travel,” the commission said. The commission proposed that all vaccines rubberstamped by the European Medicines Agency should be automatically recognized, but also offered governments the possibility to include vaccines like Russia's Sputnik or China's Sinovac, which haven't received EU market authorisation.

Bloc puts brake on jab exports The EU may get more restrictive in exporting Covid-19 vaccines to safeguard essential jabs for its own citizens facing a third wave of the pandemic, the head of the bloc’s executive said. Ursula von der Leyen's announcement risks escalating tensions with the UK and the US. She spoke as six EU countries complained to Brussels about reduced deliveries that are hampering the bloc’s already-troubled inoculation campaign. EU may use emergency powers to seize vaccines Leyen said EU should consider measures to secure supplies, including the use of emergency legal powers that would allow them to seize control of production and distribution. AGENCIES