It can’t be stressed enough how important it is to remain vigilant against the virus despite the roll-out of the vaccines. At the same time, this does not temper our steely determination to save this upcoming summer season.
The pandemic has been hard on all of us and it must have been immeasurably hard on those who tragically lost their loved ones. But, surely, those whose business future is in the balance deserve our utmost and constant attention.
The effects on small and micro enterprises and ancillary jobs has been quite simply devastating. We can’t just continue living as if nothing has happened to these people and their families. And this is not just about the economic impact.
It is also about the profound psychological and the social impacts.
It is with these thoughts in mind that we, members of the European Parliament from South and North, West to East, called for an EU document that facilitates save travel for EU citizens ahead of the summer season. In other words, we want tourism to pick up before the summer season in order to save thousands of jobs and enterprises.
Some call this kind of document ‘a COVID passport’. We call it the digital green certificate. But whatever name it’s called, it would serve as a proof that a person received a vaccine, a negative test result or recovered from COVID-19 and, therefore, enjoys natural immunity.
It would be accepted by all 27 EU countries and, therefore, it would it make possible for countries like Malta to start receiving tourists this summer.
The European Parliament pledged to adopt the certificate in an urgency procedure to make sure the certificate can be used this upcoming summer.
EU governments will remain responsible to decide which public health restrictions they waive for holders of the certificate
Indeed, we tabled this proposal for a vote by the whole European Parliament scheduled for next week. Until now, we have only seen uncoordinated and unilateral internal border controls between EU countries and there is a dire need to change all that.
With this digital green certificate, citizens will be able to visit their families, work across borders and go for holidays without having to quarantine upon their arrival or return.
This will not only restart the economy, tourism, protect jobs and create new ones but it will also keep the virus in check.
The certificate will contain necessary key information such as name, date of birth, date of issuance, relevant information about vaccines/test/recovery and a unique identifier.
EU governments will remain responsible to decide which public health restrictions they waive for holders of the certificate but they will have to apply such waivers in the same way to every EU citizen holding a digital green certificate.
We hope that the European Parliament adopts this proposal next week so that the negotiations with the EU government could commence in May and wrap up these rules in early June, ahead of the summer season.
Every ounce of support can make a difference to the lives of the hardest hit by the pandemic. Let’s make it happen!
David Casa, Nationalist Party MEP, is Quaestor of the European Parliament. Esther de Lange, MEP, is Vice Chair of the EPP Group.