MEP Sandra Kalniete: Vaccination must not be a basis for restricting the free movement of people

The European Union is working on the introduction of the so-called green certificate. It is expected to grant travel opportunities for Covid-19 vaccine recipients and thus help companies in the hospitality industry to recover more quickly.

For the time being, only the European Parliament has agreed on the information that this certificate will have to contain, improving the version proposed by the European Commission. A final agreement will have to be reached in negotiations between the leaders of the EU member states in the Council of Europe, and this process promises not to be easy due to the different understandings of personal data protection and human freedom.

MEP Sandra Kalniete (New Unity, Jaunā Vienotība), Vice-Chair of the Group of the European People's Party, emphasized that the EU Covid-19 certificate would only be practical if the Member States will be able to agree on a common system and its uniform implementation.

The politician is convinced that individual criteria and travel documents that some Member States are working on can lead to great confusion, which will only cause new inconveniences to people.

What was the European Commission's initial offer for the EU Covid-19 certificate?

On 17 March, the European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation establishing a digital green certificate. It would show that the person has been vaccinated against Covid-19, has had a negative test result or has recovered from Covid.

What are the changes introduced by the European Parliament and how are they better than the original version?

The basic elements remain the same.

The name of the certificate has been changed - it is no longer a green digital certificate, it is now more simple and clear - EU COVID-19 Certificate. Because, in reality, the certificate will also be in paper form, and it has nothing to do with green policy in the context of the environment and climate.

It stipulates that the certificate must not be used as a basis for the restriction of the free movement of people or any other fundamental freedoms, for discrimination, for restriction of the internal market and the like.

It also includes more detailed data protection requirements, such as strictly prohibiting central processing and storage of data or any processing and storage of data beyond the period of validity of the certificate and outside the scope of the certificate.

The Member States must also ensure that vaccines, tests and other tools are accessible to people with disabilities as well.

There is also a strong and scrupulous mechanism for how the Commission should report on the implementation of the certificate, for example on potential risks and their prevention in the field of human rights and data protection. The first report must be submitted by the Commission within four months of the entry into force of the Regulation.

The regulation has a fixed duration of 12 months (which was indefinite in the Commission proposal, depending on the WHO's conclusions). If necessary, the regulation can be extended, but only under a strictly agreed procedure.

What problems do you anticipate during the coordination of this document with the Council of Europe?

Those will be matters of division of competences: health issues remain the responsibility of the Member States. In the European Parliament, the Committee on Justice and Home Affairs was responsible for the issue, and the Commissioner responsible for this area is also leading the proposal.

Member States have different resources and interests, for example, countries with lower vaccination numbers are also unlikely to be able to provide free tests. The risk of the disease will also be higher in "less vaccinated" countries. The number of people who refuse to be vaccinated due to misinformation also plays a role here.

Some Member States, such as Hungary, which use the Sputnik vaccine, want these vaccines to be recognized throughout the EU. At present, in the draft regulation, this is a matter for the Member States, and only a vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency can be included in the certificate.

Discussions will certainly be triggered by a procedure to impose restrictions on certificate holders if infection rates at tourist destinations increase. Many Member States will want to impose self-isolation.

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