Member States’ national ambassadors to the EU gave an update on Tuesday 12 May on the status of negotiations with the European Parliament over the draft ‘digital green certificate’, while a second negotiation meeting took place on the evening of Tuesday 11 May.
During this discussion in Coreper, around ten delegations made it extremely clear that free testing or additional measures for holders of these certificates is a national competence. A source said there is little room for manoeuvre on these points.
The points of divergence with the European Parliament had already been set out on 3 May, but the EU Council and Parliament were still unable to resolve them at the meeting held on 11 May. Regarding the cost of the tests, one possible route would be for Member States to recognise that these PCR tests must remain accessible and affordable and this would be set out in a recital that would not be binding on them.
In respect of health restrictions to be imposed, Member States also want to keep their hand in so that they will be able to quickly reinstate restrictions should a variant develop or the situation change. They therefore do not want to accept the European Parliament’s logic that these measures can be lifted for people who hold this certificate. Some Member States are currently starting to lift measures – such as quarantine periods or PCR testing – for vaccinated people but not for others, and the European Parliament has no say in how Member States manage this.
Another open item still relates to vaccines that are recognised by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and included in the certificate. The European Parliament has requested that only EMA vaccines are included, but Member States also want to consider those vaccines authorised on the WHO emergency list. According to the same source, a compromise seems possible.
Both the European Parliament and the European Commission are also opposed to the 6-week transition period for making the European certificate operational – something that is included in the EU Council’s mandate – but ambassadors reiterated their commitment to this possibility on Wednesday, thereby not delaying the entry into force of the regulation. Certificates from other European travellers will be accepted everywhere and temporary certificates from ‘countries who are lagging behind’ should also be accepted abroad. It is possible that travellers will still face practical difficulties, which makes some think that countries not ready in June may not want their residents to go elsewhere during the summer.
On the subject of what the tool is called, however, the Council of the EU is not opposed to the removing the term ‘green’, which makes no sense to the European Parliament. The latter wants to call it the ‘European Covid-19 certificate’ while the EU Council want to add the term ‘digital’. A further trilogue meeting is scheduled for 18 May. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)