COVID-19: Brussels working on digital green pass for summer travel

The European Commission is working on a special pass that will allow vaccinated people and others to travel more freely.

But the move is inviting criticism from those who say it ends up discriminating those unable to get the jab.

The ‘digital green pass’ could be announced in the next weeks for those who have been vaccinated, recovered from COVID-19, or who obtains negative test results.

EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen tweeted Monday (1 March) that it would ease the lives of Europeans. “The aim is to gradually enable them to move safely in the European Union or abroad - for work or tourism,” she said.

The Maltese deputy prime minister and health minister Chris Fearne welcomed the development, saying it was “an added tool to facilitate travel and empower European citizens.”

This is a welcome development by the @EU_Commission - providing an added tool to facilitate travel and empower #European citizens. https://t.co/J0p4xzySaR

— Chris Fearne (@chrisfearne) March 2, 2021

The Commission is planning the green pass in time for the summer. But in an instant rebuke, Belgium’s deputy prime minister Sophie Wilmès, said her country would not participate. “For Belgium, there is no question of linking vaccination to the freedom of movement around Europe.”

Wilmès suggested it risks discrimination, given the slow pace of vaccine roll-out, adding that the notion of a pass “is confusing, in relation to the objective that this certificate should pursue.”

Only around 30 million vaccination doses have so far been administered across the EU, representing approximately 6.4% of the population.

In Malta, 29,634 first vaccination doses have been administered, representing just over 5% of the population.

It is also unclear if new checks at the internal borders of the passport-free Schengen zone would thus be needed.

The digital green pass would include data as to whether a person has been vaccinated, test results for those who haven’t been vaccinated yet, and any recovery information on the disease.

EU states had, at the end of January, agreed on what kind of data to include in such a certificate, which would link up to the national health care and border systems. But the creation of a ‘Trust Framework has yet to be agreed upon.

The pass would be an additional layer to the certificate, which the Commission says will be designed to allow the free movement of people.