A passenger sends a suitcase through an abandoned arrivals hall at Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid.
Photographer: Paul Hanna / Bloomberg
Photographer: Paul Hanna / Bloomberg
A proposal to grant special privileges to those vaccinated gets a rise in Europe ahead of a serious call from leaders in the region, as an increase in coronavirus infections raises hopes of a quick exit from the economically crippling intoxicants can numb.
About a video conference on January 21, European Union leaders will discuss the introduction of a ‘vaccination certificate’ that will allow containers to travel freely, several diplomats familiar with preparing for the virtual meeting said. The proposal enjoys increasing support, one EU official said, while another diplomat warned that other governments were pushing back, and that any restrictions on freedom of movement on such grounds could be illegal.
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The proposal to introduce such a certificate gained momentum after Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis formally requested it in a letter to the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, earlier this week. As the vaccination campaigns move towards a snail’s pace, a decision to extend EU-wide privileges for vaccines that are not yet available to everyone in the group due soon may come soon.
Yet countries desperate to restore travel at least in part can do so alone, as border control is a national competence, and EU coordination, although sought, is not mandatory. The commission, the EU’s executive in Brussels, said it was consulting with the bloc’s national capitals on the idea of vaccination certificates as part of efforts to keep the internal border open.
New proposal
“We are actively in talks with member states about the recognition of vaccination certificates, just as we are working on the recognition of tests,” said Stefan De Keersmaecker, spokesman for the commission’s transport and health, on Thursday. “This is an important issue for free movement in the EU.”
The EU official said leaders were likely to ask the commission to come up with a proposal for a vaccination certificate during next week’s call. Leaders will also ask the executive for steps to speed up vaccinations and increase production capacity.
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Sellers startedimplement programs that can securely store health information, such as test results, vaccination status or proof that you have had Covid-19, and that can be used by airlines to expedite transportation, based on policies that vary by country.
The calls come as the EU lags behind the US, the UK and countries such as Israel and the United Arab Emirates to vaccinate the population. The delays mean that locks will take longer and delay the recovery of the block from the strongest recession in memory.
“We must explore all possibilities to encourage private companies to step up the production of vaccines and deliveries to member states,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a January 13 letter to von der Leyen. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said in a letter to the president of the commission on January 11: “There is an urgent need to increase the production capacity of different vaccines and at the same time speed up shipments to the member states.”
– With the help of Paul Tugwell, Sotiris Nikas, Christopher Jasper, Siddharth Vikram Philip and Charlotte Ryan