BRUSSELS, April 14 (Reuters) – EU countries officially agreed on Wednesday to launch COVID travel permits as a step towards reopening tourism this summer and will negotiate details with bloc parliamentarians in May, two diplomatic sources said.
Certificates would allow vaccinated people, recovered from COVID-19 or with negative test results, to travel more easily to the EU, where traffic restrictions have weighed heavily on the tourism and tourism industry for over a year.
The 27 EU member states “underlined their commitment to prepare the framework by the summer of 2021,” said a document approved by national envoys and seen by Reuters.
The European Parliament, which must also agree with the proposal for it to enter into force, is due to accept its own position at the end of this month and final talks between parliamentarians, national envoys and the bloc’s executive will begin in May.
EU countries are working in parallel to ensure “that the necessary technological solutions are available”, the EU27 decision says, so that new digital or paper certificates can be used once approved.
The agreement of the Member States includes provisions against discrimination against those who cannot or do not want to be vaccinated and allows a series of tests to prove recovery.
While Member States would be required to recognize EU-approved vaccines, some countries could also issue certificates covering Sputnik vaccines in Russia or Sinovac vaccines in China, which are only authorized in their territory.
Other EU countries would decide whether to accept a vaccine certificate that is not approved by EU regulators. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Philip Blenkinsop)