The European Parliament confirmed on Thursday 5 May the wish of its Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) to enter into negotiations with the Council of the EU on the extension of the legal basis of the EU’s Covid digital certificate, which is due to expire on 30 June this year and will be deferred for one year (see EUROPE 12941/19).
The decision to enter into negotiations on both this legal basis for the certificate for EU citizens and the one covering third country nationals was approved by 432 votes to 130 with 23 abstentions and 441 votes to 132 with 20 abstentions respectively. The LIBE Committee’s mandate provides for the Commission to review this certificate tool at the end of 2022 in a report to be submitted to Parliament and the EU Council to assess whether there is still a need to enforce the EU Covid certificate. The scheme should be repealed as soon as possible.
The Council of the EU, for its part, has requested that the Commission’s report be submitted to it by 1 February 2023 (see EUROPE 12905/16). Link to the LIBE mandate: https://aeur.eu/f/1ib (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)