On the evening of Wednesday 16 February in Strasbourg, MEPs called again on EU Member States to lift the remaining restrictions on free movement within the EU, including proof of vaccination and testing, and generally deplored the lack of coordination of national measures since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
MEPs were debating with Commissioner Didier Reynders the European Commission’s plan proposed on 3 February to extend the legal basis of the EU Covid certificate by one year (see EUROPE 12883/24).
An extension is necessary, according to the Commissioner, as long as it is impossible to predict the pandemic. As the certificate tool has worked well in the EU, “people would not understand” if it were to be stopped with possible new barriers to free movement, he added, wanting the certificate to “die a good death” as soon as the pandemic is over.
The European Commission decided on 3 February to extend the legal basis of the EU Covid-19 certificate until 30 June 2023. Some amendments had been proposed, such as including laboratory antigen tests among the types of tests for which a test certificate can be issued or providing that certificates can be issued to persons participating in clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccines.
On Wednesday, the Commissioner also said that the European Commission would soon present a delegated act so that rapid tests could also give rise to a certificate of recovery in line with the EU’s Covid certificate.
But MEPs did not hide their disillusionment, some of them feeling that this debate comes too late, as several Member States have already announced the lifting of several restrictions, such as Italy, which will no longer impose quarantines. Others pointed to the disparity of national uses of the Covid certificate or the negative impact of this lack of harmonisation for sectors such as tourism. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)