The European Parliament did water in the wine to reach an agreement with the member states on the introduction of a corona certificate that should make smooth travel within the EU possible again.
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In the fourth round of negotiations, the European institutions reached an agreement on a binding regulation on the certificate. Via a QR code it will indicate that someone has been vaccinated, has undergone a negative PCR test or has already built up antibodies.
The European Parliament initially demanded that the PCR tests be free. But the member states did not want that, partly because this is part of their national competences. Parliament’s negotiators then proposed using money from the Emergency Support Instrument to purchase up to 550 million PCR tests and make them available to Member States. As a compromise, it was concluded that tests for 100 million euros will be distributed free of charge. As a result, not every European will receive a free test.
Red line
MEPs’ assertion that Member States should not be allowed to impose additional restrictions such as quarantine on those in possession of a certificate, was another red line for the Member States because that is also within their competence. They wanted to be able to apply an emergency brake if the health situation in their territory deteriorates again. It has now been agreed that the Member States can only do this if that measure is proportional, temporary and can be justified on the basis of data from the European Agency for Disease Prevention, and is notified to the Commission 48 hours in advance.
The certificate will recognize vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency. But in order to get Hungary on board, it has been agreed that member states can decide individually to also readily admit Europeans who have been vaccinated with, for example, the Russian Sputnik vaccine.
The end of June
The intention is that everything will be completed by the end of June. Experts will then have the time to work out all the practical details and to put everything in order technically. ‘This is good news for our citizens. It will make traveling a lot easier this summer, ‘said Tom Vandenkendelaere (CD&V). ‘With one uniform European approach, we avoid 27 different packages of measures to cross the border. In this way, we get the economy and tourism going again and save the summer. ‘
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