Enlarge image
Green passport in Italy: use gradually expanded
Photo: Mourad Balti Touati / EPA
Italy will be the first European country to make a so-called "green passport" compulsory for employees in the public and private sectors. The Minister for Regional Affairs, Mariastella Gelmini, announced this on the state radio. This passport - a certificate on paper or in digital form - proves that a person has received at least one vaccine dose, has tested negative or has recovered. The original idea behind it: To make traveling within the EU easier.
Italy had already introduced the “Green Pass” in August in order to be able to visit sports stadiums, fitness centers, museums, cinemas, swimming pools and trade fairs. Proof is also required for indoor areas in restaurants. Italy has gradually expanded the use of the ID card in the workplace, although there are tensions over it within the ruling coalition.
Gelmini announced that a cabinet meeting on Thursday would decide to expand the use of the document even further.
"We are on the way to a mandatory green passport not only for employees in the public sector, but also in the private sector," Gelmini told the radio station RAI.
"The vaccine is the only weapon we have against Covid, and we can only contain the infection if we vaccinate a large majority of the population."
About 73 percent of Italy's 60 million people have had at least one vaccination, and 65 percent are fully vaccinated.
The opponents of the Green Pass see it as a compulsory vaccination through the back door.
In more and more countries, fresh corona tests, vaccinations and recoveries can be verified with the digital EU corona certificates.
As the EU Commission announced on Wednesday, Albania, Andorra, the Faroe Islands, Israel, Monaco, Morocco and Panama are now connected to the necessary technology.
According to the information, the certificates issued there are also recognized in the EU.
However, nowhere is such a document compulsory for all employees in the public or private sector.
mmq