The Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, expressed his wish, on Friday 26 February, for the European vaccination certificate or passport to be “in place by this summer” and to be subject to “reciprocal recognition” within the European Union.
Debated the evening before by the leaders (see EUROPE 12666/3), the concept of the certificate is seen by some southern EU countries as the key to the return to free movement of people within the EU, in particular to save the tourist season.
“We are in favour of a measure on a European scale”, said the Portuguese at the end of the second working session of the European Council videoconference (see EUROPE 12667/1). “This is what will ensure that anyone can enter Portugal without being subject to quarantine”, he explained. This document, he said, would certify that “a person has been infected or has already been vaccinated or has had a test that confirms that they are not infected”.
Speeding up the process of vaccination against Covid-19
On the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic at EU level, the Portuguese Prime Minister considered it “fundamental” that the vaccination process be sped up, through a process of facilitating the granting of licences to the EMA and increasing vaccine production capacity.
“EU contracts must be honoured”, Mr Costa stressed. And in order to adapt to future developments in the disease, the detection of coronavirus variants should be strengthened by sequencing the virus detected in positive individuals. He referred to the “kind of nursery” that the European Commission is setting up with laboratories for this purpose.
At the international level, Mr Costa stressed the importance of helping other countries around the world to vaccinate their populations. “Portugal will contribute 5% of the vaccines it orders” to the solidarity effort for Portuguese-speaking countries and East Timor, he said. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic and Mathieu Bion)