free, with QR code and for vaccinated people and people with anti-coronavirus antibodies

Digital and on paper, free of charge, in English and in the language of the Member State, with up to 11 personal data and with a barcode system so that it can be recognized by national authorities. The European Commission present this Wednesday its proposal for a regulation so that the European Union has, by June at the latest, a “digital green certificate” a passport that would serve as a travel pass in times of coronavirus.

Three weeks after receiving preliminary approval from member states, President Úrsula Von der Leyen appeared in the press room on Wednesday – where she had not appeared since November – to, along with four commissioners, “ sell ” his proposal, which continues to be received unwillingly in various governments of the bloc.

Brussels intends that the “digital green certificate” be the key to a generalized and gradual reopening of European economies and societies as soon as the epidemiological situation allows.

With this document, those who were vaccinated, have past covid-19 or have a negative test They will be able to travel more easily, without having to undergo public health restrictions such as isolation or quarantine. The Commission hopes that it will be relive this summer the European tourism sector.

According to the Commission, the certificate “will allow European citizens and their families to exercise their right to free movement by demonstrating that they comply with the health requirements imposed”.

But at the same time the document it will not be compulsory “Exercise freedom of movement,” says the European executive, which adds that it neither obliges nor gives the right to be vaccinated. The difference is that anyone who hasn’t been vaccinated, hasn’t had the disease, and doesn’t test negative. you will need to comply with health restrictions.

Brussels thus anticipates that governments will not impose restrictions such as isolation on those who test negative, which remains to be seen that governments will accept when some, like the Belgian, do not even allow travel except in exceptional cases.

Accompanied by the Commissioners for Internal Market and Industry (French Thierry Breton), Health (Cypriot Stella Kyriakides) and Justice (Belgian Didier Reynders) – as well as Vice-Presidents Vera Jourova and Margaritis Schinas , Von der Leyen, who took the opportunity to say that “the epidemiological situation It gets worseHe explained what he sees as the advantages of his proposal, but the press conference has become in a few minutes a review of non-compliance of pharmaceutical companies and the problems with the Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca vaccine.

All the details

The “digital green certificate” will be valid in 31 countries: the 27 Member States of the Union and Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

It will be issued to any European citizen or legally resident in any of the 31 countries, as well as family members with independence of their nationality.

The green certificate will have a minimum of 11 facts:

• – ID card number

• – disease for which you have been vaccinated

• – company that manufactured and / or marketed the vaccine

• – number of doses required

• – date of administration of the dose (s)

• – place of vaccination

• – identification of the certificate issuer

The Commission would like, compared to what was initially planned, that this certificate also be issued to those who have received unauthorized vaccines by the European Medicines Agency – mainly Russian and Chinese as long as these vaccines have been authorized by the World Health Organization.

This is the formula for not excluding Hungarians, Slovaks or Croats from the system. Their governments are already using the Russian Sputnik-V and the Chinese Sinopharm. The four vaccines approved to date by the European Medicines Agency are AstraZeneca, Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna and Janssen.

Controversial

Reynders considers that the proposal is not, as it is criticized, “discriminatory” and that it is also “effective”, but in governments which do not see favorably that the “digital green certificate” serves as a safeguard. driven for unrestricted travel – as the Belgian government, of which Reynders was a member for three decades – is considered a discriminatory proposition while a large part of the population does not have access to vaccines.

The regulation establishes that if a Member State decides to continue to require quarantines or a negative test from persons holding the certificate, it must explain to the Commission and to the other Member States the reasons which justify the maintenance of these restrictions.

One of the most urgent challenges will be, explains the Commission, “to agree on the technical requirements that will be used to guarantee interoperability, security and the possibility of verification” of the certificates by the competent authorities of each Member State, which may also, in some cases, only national authorities, but in more decentralized countries such as Spain, Belgium or Germany, also regional authorities.

The proposal may also cause, says a critical diplomat with her, that many young people travel freely this summer, try to catch it on purpose. Or that there are those who try to skip their turn on the vaccination list to get vaccinated before the summer even if it is not their turn. When it was approved at the last summit that the Commission would develop the proposal, Angela Merkel said she would only see it when the majority of the European population was vaccinated.

Doubts

There is no more unanswered questions in the Commission proposal: how to demonstrate that we have passed covid-19 if there is no national register of persons establishing it? Will anyone agree to admit that the disease has passed? antibodies from those who have passed the disease if they are not vaccinated? Is it certain that those who have been vaccinated are not contagious even if they do not show symptoms?

The regulation proposed by the Commission now begins the legislative route in Brussels and remains in the hands of the European Parliament and the governments within the Council. Brussels intends to work in June.

The proposal has no expiry date, but the Commission admits the regulation will cease to apply as soon as the World Health Organization declares the pandemic over.

Brussels, special

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