The European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties approved on Thursday 28 April, by 48 votes to 16 with 0 abstentions, the extension of the legal basis of the EU Covid certificate, which can be applied for by Member States until the end of June 2023.
However, the committee asked the European Commission to consider, as of the end of 2022, whether it is appropriate to maintain this tool which, at the height of the pandemic, made it possible to re-establish a certain degree of free movement in the EU, and to put an end to it if the circumstances justify it.
The report asks the European Commission to submit to the Parliament, as well as to the Council of the EU, a report by 31 December including an impact assessment of the regulation on the facilitation of free movement as well as on the levels of acceptance of this certificate in the Member States and an impact assessment on fundamental rights and personal data protection. The Council of the EU, in its mandate, has foreseen that this report will only be submitted by February 2023 (see EUROPE 12905/16, 12923/30).
In addition to extending the validity of the EUDCC system until 30 June 2023, the European Commission’s changes also allow Member States to grant test certificates based on new types of antigen assays.
MEPs also amended the proposals to emphasise that Member States should avoid any further restrictions on the freedom of movement of certificate holders unless absolutely necessary.
Parliament rapporteur Juan Fernando López Aguilar (S&D, Spain) said that as the pandemic is not over, it “makes sense” to accept the extension of the legal basis of this tool, which expires in June, but it is essential that the European Commission be able to anticipate its end if the conditions are right.
The Parliament will have to say before 5 May whether it opposes the negotiations with the EU Council.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/1eq (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)