European vaccination passport, in Brussels the hypothesis of a certificate for immunes. From Spain to Germany, the positions of the EU countries

There are those who would like it immediately, who is hopes but not too soon, and who really doesn’t want to hear about it speak. And the vaccination passport European, a document that would allow to move in theEuropean Union without the limitations imposed due to the pandemic. But for now there is no harmony between the Countries and the Community institutions on its adoption. The kick-off to the debate was given by the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on January 12. In a letter to the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen he argued that “vaccinated people should be free to travel”. On his side they immediately took sides Malta e Portugal. The Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela he did so in an equally official way, with a letter in which he defines the vaccine passport as “a useful tool in this crisis”, his Portuguese counterpart António Costa with a more nuanced statement: “It is important that next summer people feel safe traveling to our country”.

Al Portugal, who holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union and can therefore push to discuss the issue in recent months, also seems to align the Spain: the Minister of Foreign Affairs Arancha Gonzalez considers such a document inevitable in the future. The same president von der Leyen opened to the idea, arguing that the proposal it will be discussed as soon as there is a vaccination certificate recognized by theWHO. But if with one hand theEurope warms the engine, with the other it cools the enthusiasm. The president of the European Council Charles Michel argues that the debate is relevant ma premature: if such a measure were adopted too soon it would lead to frustration among the citizens. On a concrete level, the heads of state and government of the 27 would have, in an informal way, already put the issue on the table. Also because in different European countries the vaccination certificate is already a reality: Sweden, Denmark, Estonia and Iceland (which is not part of the EU but falls within the area Schengen) have established the issue of a document certifying the vaccination, Hungary with a “certificate of immunity” also awarded to those recovered from Covid19.

These documents, however, have only internal value, allowing the owners, for example, to avoid i controls upon return home or to access determined events. The passport vaccine Community would instead guarantee free circulation between different countries: if an agreement were not reached at European level, it is not excluded that States of southern Europe, just to save the season tourist, try the road of agreements bilateral, as has been done recently by Greece with Israel.

On the other side of the barricadein fact, the front is wide and varied. The Romanian president Klaus Iohannis considers the proposal for a vaccination passport divisive, as it would cut the European population in two. For now, even the government French: the Minister of Health Olivier Véran pointed out in a recent interview that the vaccine prevents the development of the disease, but not necessarily the transmission of virus. The executive of the Belgium seems to be against it with the former prime minister Sophie Wilmes, now owner of Foreign, which speaks of “discrimination if there is no universal access to vaccines”.

In this match between States there is no shortage of interests of private actors and recommendations of international organizations. On the one hand, the International Association of Airlines (IATA) is asking for the certificate to return to large numbers of passengers, on the other handWHO advises against adopting it. Still absent from the European scene, however, Germany e Italy. Here the debate is still all internal and focuses on the introduction or not of a license vaccine valid within its own borders, which the emergency commissioner Covid19 Domenico Arcuri he cautiously defines “not a bad idea”.

The government of Angela Merkel seems torn between those who would like to ease restrictions on immune, like the foreign minister Heiko Maas, and those who preach prudence as the owner of the interior Horst Seehofer, according to which to distinguish between vaccine and it would not, in fact, be like making the vaccine mandatory in the country. The German choice and also the future of Italy may depend on this comparison of opposing visions passport vaccine European.

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