The European Council approved on June 28 the extension of the European Union’s Covid Digital Certificate until June 30th, 2023. The measure aims to “ensure that travelers can continue to use the certificate for travel within the European Union in countries where the certificate is still required,” such as Portugal, according to the statement from the Council of Europe. The same statement also states that, “however, the regulation does not impose the use of these certificates by member states.”
The Digital Certificate went into effect on July 1st, 2021, at a time when the average daily number of new Covid-19 cases in the European Union was 30 per million and about 34% of the population had the full vaccination against the disease (two doses or one J&J). Today, the number of daily cases is 637 per million and about 80% of the population was fully vaccinated in February this year.
The extension of the certificate’s validity had already been negotiated with the European Parliament on June 23rd. The document approved by MEPs states that “there must be no discrimination or lack of proportionality in the restrictions on free movement” and that “the Commission may propose to cancel the certificate after six months if it is no longer needed”. The agreement, concerning the rules applied to European Union (EU) citizens, was voted in plenary with 453 votes in favor, 119 against and 19 abstentions.
One of the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who voted against it was Cristian Terheș. On the eve of the agreement between Parliament and the Commission, the Romanian MEP declared in plenary that “the Digital Certificate proposal serves to ‘tame’ EU citizens into compliance and submission” and that it is part of “Ursula von der Leyen’s [European Commission President] strategy for the Chinification of Europe and digital tyranny.”
The Digital Certificate is used in 33 countries and 1,2 billion certificates have been generated by February 2022. The certificate is intended to prove that the citizen has been vaccinated against Covid-19, has received a negative test result or has recovered from the disease, for the purpose of travel within the adhering countries. In several EU countries, including Portugal, the certificate has also been used for access to spaces and services, such as restaurants, hotels and shows.
