On Thursday 31 March, the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties debated the possibility of extending the legal basis of the EU’s Covid certificate by one year, until June 2023, as requested by the European Commission on 3 February (see EUROPE 12883/24). Most groups agreed to the extension, but insisted on the need to control Member States’ practices and avoid any disproportionate measures that may hinder free movement.
The Commission had also added amendments providing for: - the inclusion of laboratory antigen tests among the types of tests for which a test certificate can be issued; - certificates that may be issued to persons taking part in clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccines.
The Chair of the LIBE Commission, Juan Fernando López Aguilar (S&D, Spain), supported these amendments in his draft report.
In his opinion, it seems “reasonable”, given the still unpredictable situation, to extend the EU Covid certificate regulation by one year, but the European Parliament will have to use this legislative procedure to properly assess the situation and ensure that use of the certificate will be time-limited and will end as soon as the public health situation allows it.
“One year might be too long”, said Dutch MEP Tineke Strik (Greens/EFA) on Wednesday, in response to the fact that the Covid certificate infrastructure is to be maintained to cope with new dangers. There is a need to “discuss how Member States impose restrictions” (such as additional tests or proof of booster vaccination) to “improve free movement, and not the other way around”, she said.
For Sophie in ‘t Veld (Renew Europe, Netherlands), it is also necessary to “rethink the objectives” of this regulation on Covid certificates, since the European Parliament had insisted last year that national measures be harmonised. However, confusion continued to reign, with “each Member State doing as it wished”.
The Chair of LIBE also said they understood “people’s weariness” when they could see that the situation was improving along with the vaccine, “but that does not mean that the certificate has lost its purpose”.
The European Commission, for its part, warned against extending the certificate for too short a period of time when “infection rates are rising in 11 Member States to date” and the situation during the coming winter is not known. “If the duration is reduced too much, there will be a risk that there is no adequate instrument” in the event of a resurgence of the pandemic, the Commission said.
The deadline for amendments is 7 April. The EU Council, for its part, has already adopted its mandate on 7 March and is of the opinion that the EU Covid certificate could be discontinued before June 2023, if the health situation allows it (see EUROPE 12905/16).
Link to the draft report: https://aeur.eu/f/12b (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)