Portugal wants digital EU travel pass agreed by end of May
At stake is the legislative proposal presented by the EU executive in mid-March for the creation of a digital certificate to prove vaccination, testing or recovery from Covid-19.
Portugal’s prime minister, António Costa, hopes to reach a “final agreement with the European Parliament” on the digital travel pass by the end of May, a “fundamental” date so that “tourism can be a source of reviving the economy this summer”.
“Our expectation, and we hope not to be overly optimistic, is that we can have a final agreement with the European Parliament (EP) at the end of May. It is essential that this is the case because, if we want tourism to still be a source of revival of the economy this summer, it is essential that we have this certificate,” he said.
Speaking, by videoconference, in a debate with the Committee of the Regions, the President-in-Office of the Council of the European Union said that, following the first round of interinstitutional negotiations on the pass this Monday, the “next trialogue is scheduled for next Tuesday.”
“As you can imagine, a country where tourism has the weight in the economy that it has in Portugal, obviously for us this has been a priority,” the prime minister said.
In addition to the importance to allow reviving the European economy, António Costa also said that a quick agreement between the institutions will also serve to “ensure” that “citizens who either have already gained natural immunity because they have contracted the disease or have already acquired immunity through vaccination, or who test in the previous 72 hours and have negative results”, can “resume freedom of movement, which is a fundamental mark” of the EU.
The Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU and the European Parliament’s negotiating team on Monday started negotiations on the digital green certificate, after MEPs adopted a position for the negotiations last Thursday.
At stake is the legislative proposal presented by the EU executive in mid-March for the creation of a digital certificate to prove vaccination, testing or recovery from Covid-19, a bilingual document with a QR code that should come into force by June to allow the resumption of free movement in the EU in the summer.
