RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The surge of coronavirus cases in Europe is reducing hopes for a swift end to lockdowns, which are crippling economies. As a result, a proposal to grant special privileges to vaccinated people is gaining traction before a decisive meeting of the region’s leaders.
During a videoconference on January 21st, European Union leaders will discuss the introduction of a “vaccination certificate” that would allow holders to travel freely, several diplomats said in connection with preparations for the meeting. The proposal is gaining increasing support, an EU authority said, while another diplomat cautioned that there is resistance from some governments, and any limits to the freedom of movement on such grounds could be illegal.
The proposal to introduce such a certificate gained momentum after Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis formally requested it with a letter to the chief of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, earlier this week. With inoculation campaigns moving at a snail’s pace, a decision to extend EU-wide privileges for vaccines that are not yet available to everyone in the bloc, due to limited supplies, may not come imminently.
Still, countries desperate to restore travel at least partially could go it alone, since border control is national, and EU coordination, while sought, is not compulsory. The Commission, the EU’s executive arm in Brussels, said it’s discussing with the bloc’s nations about the idea of vaccination certificates as part of efforts to keep internal borders open.
New proposal
“We are in active discussions with member states on recognition of vaccination certificates, just like we are working on the recognition of tests,” Stefan De Keersmaecker, the commission’s transport and health spokesman, said on Thursday. “This is an important issue for free movement in the EU.”
The EU official said leaders are 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 action to speed up vaccinations and boost production capacity.
The appeals come when the EU is behind the U.S., UK and countries like Israel and the United Arab Emirates in vaccinating the population. With the delays, lockdowns will be extended, thereby deferring the bloc’s rebound from the most serious recession in memory.
“We should explore all possible avenues to encourage private companies to scale up production of vaccines and deliveries to the member states,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a January 13th letter to von der Leyen.
Finnish premier Sanna Marin, in a January 11th letter to the commission president, said, “there is an urgent need to increase production capacity of different vaccines and at the same time speed up the shipments to the member states”.