Brussels will present its vaccination passport proposal this month

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at a press conference on February 26, DPA via Europa Press / Europa Press

The so-called European health passport, of which many capitals were suspicious a week ago, has sneaked onto the Brussels agenda.

The European Commission will present this month a proposal on a vaccination certificate for EU citizens, as announced this Monday by the president of the Community Executive, Ursula von der Leyen.

"This month we will present a legislative proposal for a Digital Green Pass," announced Von der Leyen this Monday through a tweet.

His objective, as he added, will be to provide "proof that a person has been vaccinated, test results for those who have not yet been vaccinated and information on the recovery of covid-19", respecting "data protection and privacy ”.

The measure will be presented on March 17, according to the vice president of the Commission Margaritis Schinas after a meeting of the EU Health Ministers.

“We will present a [legislative] package,” Schinas said, “focused on travel and lifting restrictions.

The aim is to establish a common direction for a safe opening of Europe ”.

The certificate "will be based on medical status with the aim of facilitating travel for pleasure or work," explained a spokesman for the Commission during a press conference this afternoon, although he was barely able to provide additional details on the proposal.

"It is being developed right now", said the spokesman, who has assured that the Commission will work on the basis of free movement in Europe (EU competence), but will not be able to enter into the regulation of its use in different countries , which would correspond to the Member States.

"The intention is to have it ready in three months, if everything goes as planned."

Brussels will present its vaccination passport proposal this month.

In video, statements by Christian Wigand, spokesman for the Justice and Equality Commission, EBS

The idea of ​​creating a health passport has been flying over Brussels for months and began to gain momentum at the beginning of this year, especially at the insistence of countries that make a living from tourism and therefore from the reactivation of travel, such as Greece and Spain.

The European Council and the Commission had been open to studying it, but preferred until recently to keep a low profile and delay its hypothetical launch.

The last virtual European summit, held last week, has accelerated its implementation.

In it, the Twenty-seven pledged to get down to work on the design of a digital certificate that indicates whether the person in question has been vaccinated, has antibodies or has tested negative in any PCR test carried out recently.

Von der Leyen claimed that countries should "work fast" if they wanted to start it up for the summer campaign, as Spain insistently demanded.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also welcomed the proposal, which could encourage the return of the movement of travelers between Europe and the rest of the world.

It is not about starting from scratch.

The Commission has been working on this document since last year.

At the summit, its president already assured that there was an agreement with national governments on the information that this kind of

laissez passer

should contain

in times of the coronavirus: a score of data ranging from the name and surname of the holder to tracking the dose inoculated, following the guidelines discussed in the community network that groups together the health authorities (eHealth Network) and preliminarily agreed for its possible application.

The Commission intends that the certificate can be verified and recognized "anywhere in the EU" and seeks to make it "a simple solution", according to a spokesman for the Community Executive.

“It must be inclusive”, with a “digital version”, but offering the possibility of receiving it “on paper if someone requires it”.

The passport had raised doubts in countries such as France and Germany, which consider that the rights that a safe conduct can grant for those vaccinated could generate ethical problems and awaken discriminatory ghosts if it begins to be used when only a small part of the population has been immunized.

Spain, which attended last week's Council with this very high point among its priorities, recognized that discrimination could pose problems, but at the same time demanded that Brussels get down to work, so as not to reach summer, when expected that a large part of the population is already vaccinated, without having a proposal ready.

A period of debate of enormous political, operational, technical and legal difficulties is now opening, in which the uses to which a passport is entitled must be established, which could arouse suspicions in parts of the population that are not vaccinated, such as people. youth (who are left out of the priority groups in the campaign) or those who voluntarily decide not to do so.

The third vice president of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, highlighted this Monday the importance of the vaccination passport so that Spain "safely recovers tourism" as soon as possible.

“It has to arrive before summer, naturally;

Spain is the country that has the greatest interest ”, he said in an interview on TVE.

Although he recognized that the project has "complex elements", such as the fact that vaccination is voluntary and ensuring the protection of citizens' data, he explained that both legal and technological issues will be addressed in a working group formed by different ministries "to lead and ensure that any standard adopted responds to the interests of Spain."

"Certificates are a useful and effective tool to resume mobility safely," said the Spanish Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, on Monday during an appointment with his European counterparts, according to a note released by the ministry.

Maroto has called for "avoiding discriminatory measures between citizens" and has demanded speed in the return of border movements.

"It is important to have the tools ready to start mobility and reposition Europe as a safe travel destination."