A European “vaccine passport”? What you need to know about this proposal soon to be debated in Brussels

Will we need a specific passport to travel this summer?

In Brussels, the 27 will debate this Thursday February 21 the possibility of establishing a “vaccination passport” at European level, an idea to which the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen is rather favorable.

But the subject remains sensitive in France.

A bill on the extension of the state of health emergency had indeed made the Senators jump before Christmas by opening the door to a restriction of travel to unvaccinated people.

Today, the executive considers "

premature

" the debate around the establishment of such a certificate.

Read also: Covid-19: these companies which are already developing the vaccine passport of tomorrow

Last week, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis put forward the idea of ​​a “

standardized

”

vaccine passport

, which would allow vaccinated people to travel.

In the process, on Friday January 15, the President of the European Commission also declared herself in favor of such a "mutually recognized" vaccination certificate.

“

It is a medical requirement to have a vaccination certificate,”

she said.

It is for this reason that I welcome the initiative of the Greek Prime Minister for a mutually recognized vaccination certificate.

"

A "

premature

"

debate

But for its part, the French government is procrastinating.

French Secretary of State Clément Beaune had indicated on Sunday that it "

would be shocking, while this vaccination campaign is still beginning everywhere in Europe, for there to be more important rights for some than for others

".

One of the Secretary of State's relatives insists:

“The debate is premature.

The question will arise and the debate will take place in France, but the priority today is to vaccinate as many people as possible.

Whether or not we will need a specific passport to travel is hypothetical at the moment. "

In the entourage of Clément Beaune, we recognize, however, that the question is played less in Paris than in Brussels.

However, for the lawyer specializing in transport law Monique Stengel, such a certificate could be adopted without posing a major legal problem at the scale of the continent, provided that the 27 manage to reach an agreement.

“

The certificate could be justified at European level for health reasons in the same way that border controls are justified for security reasons, especially in the face of the terrorist threat

,” she continues.

We are able to check travelers at customs quite easily, as is already the case, including within the European Union with the identity card. ”

Read also: Debate among the 27 on a European vaccination certificate

Still, the debate deeply divides specialists and some elected officials.

Among the senators who had stepped up to the plate against the “

liberticide

”

bill

of last December, the elected representative of Haute-Savoie Loïc Hervé maintains to be

“totally opposed to the vaccine passport”.

“

It's a huge mistake,

” he said.

Already for a question of timing: in France we do not have enough vaccines for everyone today, and the elderly alone are vaccinated for the moment.

But it is not the elderly who will need a vaccination passport the most! ”

And to continue:

“I am a defender of public freedom, which must be superior to health and safety.

Freedom dominates everything, our law is made like that.

So defending the idea that such and such a person can benefit from privileges on presentation of a vaccination passport is a very bad idea.

And if such a law passes, we will never go back, we will use it with each new epidemic. ”

France late?

On the side of the travel companies union, we are

"absolutely certain"

that

"

there

will be no European-wide harmonization of measures to cross the borders of each country".

“Countries will each give their point of view, some will want vaccination certificates, others will also require tests.

Everyone will have their own criteria, as was the case at the borders during the first confinement, ”

says Jean-Pierre Mas, the president of Travel Companies.

The union is therefore not in favor of a vaccination certificate as a key to travel, but a

"health passport"

, in other words a digital health record, accessible via a QR code, to facilitate travel.

"To be able to enter each country, you will have to prove that you meet the criteria of that country.

With a unique medium that integrates health data (PCR or antigen tests, history, vaccines, etc.), by scanning a QR code very easily, we can know in which country we are allowed to travel.

The criteria will not be harmonized, so we have to harmonize the support! ”

Read also: Brussels says it is in favor of a European "vaccination certificate"

Jean-Pierre Mas has already presented his idea to the Secretary of State for Tourism, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne.

But without much success.

“He heard us, but France's position is one of reserve, of waiting.

As usual, we'll be late ... "