Els eurodiputats estableixen les seves condicions per obtenir un "certificat UE COVID-19"

Today (29 April), Parliament adopted its negotiating position on the proposal for what the Commission describes as a ‘Digital Green Certificate’ and what the Parliament prefers to call a ‘EU COVID-19 certificate’ to reaffirm the right to free movement in Europe during the pandemic.

MEPs insist that the documents should be available in digital or paper format and should be in place for twelve months but not longer. 

Having agreed their position, and fast-tracked the process by voting this week, both Parliament and Council are ready to begin negotiations. The aim is to reach an agreement ahead of the summer holidays.

La llibertat de moviment

Following the vote in plenary, Juan Fernando López Aguilar MEP (S&D, ES), chairman of the Civil Liberties Committee and rapporteur, said: “We need to put in place the EU COVID-19 Certificate to re-establish people’s confidence in Schengen while we continue to fight against the pandemic. Member states must co-ordinate their response in a safe manner and ensure the free movement of citizens within the EU.”

Gratuït

MEPs stress that, in order to avoid discrimination against those not vaccinated and for economic reasons, EU countries should “ensure universal, accessible, timely and free of charge testing”.

anunci

López Aguilar said: “The certificate and the tests need to be free of charge. They cannot have a prohibitive price. It's a mandatory test. It can't be so expensive!”

No additional travel restrictions

MEPs say once a citizen gains an EU COVID-19 certificate they should not be subject to additional travel restrictions, such as quarantine, self-isolation or testing. The Parliament wants to ensure that the EU certificate is part of a common framework. 

Sophie In’t Veld MEP believed that this will be one of the most difficult questions in the negotiations with the Council: “What is the point of having a common European scheme if the member states can ignore the certificate and impose additional restrictions when they want to? Do you really think the citizens are waiting for a debate about subsidiarity now and national competencies? Citizens want their rights, they want their freedom.”

Which vaccines are acceptable?

In the proposal member states must accept vaccination certificates issued in other member states for persons inoculated with a vaccine authorised for use in the EU by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) (currently Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen), MEPs say. It will be up to the member states to decide whether they also accept vaccination certificates issued in other member states for vaccines listed by the World Health Organization for emergency use. 

Data protection safeguards

The certificates will be verified to prevent fraud and forgery, as will the authenticity of the electronic seals included in the document. Personal data obtained from the certificates cannot be stored in destination member states and there will be no central database established at EU level. The list of entities that will process and receive data will be public so that citizens can exercise their data protection rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.

In’t Veld said: “Trust in the certificate is key for the take up, therefore the temporary nature protected by a sunset clause, data protection clauses, clauses that prevent function creep, are essential.”

Affordable vaccines allocated globally

Finally, MEPs underline that COVID-19 vaccines need to be produced at scale, priced affordably and allocated globally. They also voice concern about the serious problems caused by companies not complying with production and delivery schedules.

Comparteix aquest article: