EU proposes Covid-19 ‘Green Certificates’ to allow travel across the bloc

With summer looming and tourism-reliant countries anxiously waiting for the return of a steady influx of visitors amid the coronavirus pandemic, the European Union’s executive body presented a proposal Wednesday that would allow the bloc’s 450 million people — vaccinated or not — to travel freely across the 27-nation bloc 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.

“We all want the tourist season to start. We can’t afford to lose another season,” European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova told Czech public radio. “Tourism, and also culture and other sectors that are dependent on tourism terribly suffer. We’re talking about tens of millions of jobs.”

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, which could help avoid quarantines and testing requirements. 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% of European citizens have been fully vaccinated amid delays in deliveries and production of vaccines. The European Commission, however, remains confident it can achieve its goal that 70% of the EU adult population is vaccinated by the end of the summer.