The European Parliament and the Council, co-legislators of the European Union, reached an agreement last night to extend the validity of the Covid EU digital certificate, better known as the Green Pass, by one year, which would expire on 30 June. The goal is to continue to have one useful tool to facilitate travel in the EU, should a new variant emerge worrying about Sars-CoV-2.
States should refrain from imposing restrictions on free movement for certificate holders: they will be able to impose them only if they are proportionate, necessary and non-discriminatory, in order to protect public health. The Green Pass at EU level is conceived exclusively as a tool to facilitate freedom of movement in the Union: it is the States that, if necessary, decide to use it also for internal pandemic management purposes.
The Green Pass scheme, conceived from the outset as a temporary tool because it involves restrictions on freedom motivated by the need to protect public health, will be terminated when the epidemiological situation allows it. The agreement will now have to be adopted by the Council and Parliament, to enter into force by 30 June. The plenary will vote on it in next week’s mini-plenary in Brussels.
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