Lawmakers clear EU Covid pass but it may not ensure smooth travel | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Monday
May 29, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
MONDAY, MAY 29, 2023
Lawmakers clear EU Covid pass but it may not ensure smooth travel

World+Biz

Reuters
29 April, 2021, 10:30 pm
Last modified: 29 April, 2021, 10:30 pm

Related News

  • Twitter quits EU disinformation code
  • EU defence ministers fail to agree on new military aid to Ukraine
  • Meta fined record €1.2 billion in EU over US data transfers
  • As trade deficit rises, EU warned of overreliance on China and Bangladesh for textile imports
  • EU strives to win a bigger say in China's backyard

Lawmakers clear EU Covid pass but it may not ensure smooth travel

The fate of the project, which tourism-dependent countries Spain and Greece hope will help resuscitate their economies, hinges on further negotiations between EU lawmakers, member states and the European Union's executive commission

Reuters
29 April, 2021, 10:30 pm
Last modified: 29 April, 2021, 10:30 pm
A man walks through a terminal at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris, February 5, 2021. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo
A man walks through a terminal at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris, February 5, 2021. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo

European lawmakers on Thursday approved the creation of an EU-wide Covid-19 certificate sought by southern member states to help revive summer tourism, but the move could be undermined by their differing vaccination and testing rules.

The fate of the project, which tourism-dependent countries Spain and Greece hope will help resuscitate their economies, hinges on further negotiations between EU lawmakers, member states and the European Union's executive commission.

The plan aims to introduce a standard pass for people who have been vaccinated or tested negative for the virus to travel across the 27-nation bloc, but is complicated by member states' differing goals and approaches to vaccination or testing.

National differences over recognising negative antibody tests on top of PCR tests, technical difficulties in creating a single EU gateway, worries about discrimination against those who have not been vaccinated, and privacy issues mean finding common ground across the EU might be tricky, diplomats said.

As a result, the likely result is a system that would introduce Covid certificates as a minimum common denominator but leave much leeway to each country on what rights they would be willing to grant to holders of such passes, they added.

In voting overwhelmingly for an "EU Covid-19 certificate", the European Parliament said member states should not impose additional travel restrictions on those carrying such passes, and that they should make free testing widely available.

But the European Commission has proposed that countries should be able to retain extra requirements, as many member states also want.

Reflecting the confusion, Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said on Thursday: "The certificate is not about allowing or forbidding travel. It has nothing to do with that.

"It's a system of information on your health status in relation to Covid...Member states have the prerogatives, the responsibility when it comes to health safety measures (required for entry); the green digital certificate does not change this."

As the complex EU decision-making process grinds on, many countries are putting their own systems in place, heightening the risk of a disjointed set of rules that would fail to ensure uniform free travel across the bloc.

Hungary said on Thursday it would pursue bilateral deals on recognising Covid-19 vaccine certificates that would allow citizens to travel among participating countries.

Others, including Estonia, Lithuania, Greece, Spain, Germany and France, are introducing their own solutions to record vaccinations and member states would still be allowed to keep their own systems in place even once an EU-wide one is there.

They would be obliged to honour vaccines authorised for the whole bloc by the European Medicines Agency - including Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca - but each country would decide on its own how to treat people who received Russian or Chinese shots.

Coronavirus chronicle / Top News

Covid Travel / EU

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • We are working to establish world peace: PM Hasina on UN Peacekeepers Day
    We are working to establish world peace: PM Hasina on UN Peacekeepers Day
  • Govt's borrowing from treasury bills up by Tk65,000cr in FY23
    Govt's borrowing from treasury bills up by Tk65,000cr in FY23
  • Infographic: TBS
    Inside Airbus's mega plan to develop the aviation ecosystem in Bangladesh

MOST VIEWED

  • Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan meets with US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium June 14, 2021. PHOTO: REUTERS
    Biden congratulates Turkey's Erdogan on reelection
  • Photo: BSS/AFP
    World leaders congratulate Turkey's victorious Erdogan
  • Unsplash/D koi UNESCO calls out to implement its recommendations on the ethics of artificial intelligence to avoid its misuse.
    Unesco unveils new AI roadmap for classrooms
  • US President Joe Biden hosts debt limit talks with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US,  22 May, 2023. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
    US debt ceiling: Key takeaways from Biden-McCarthy deal to avert default
  • Syrian security officers inspect the damage in a residential neighborhood after an early morning Israeli airstrike in the capital city of Damascus, Syria, Sunday, 19 February, 2023. Syrian state news reported that Israeli airstrikes have targeted a residential neighborhood in central Damascus. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
    Israeli strikes on Damascus: Syrian state media
  • Astronauts Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao attend a press conference before the Shenzhou-16 spaceflight mission to China's space station, at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China 29 May, 2023. China Daily via REUTERS
    China to send first civilian into space on Tuesday

Related News

  • Twitter quits EU disinformation code
  • EU defence ministers fail to agree on new military aid to Ukraine
  • Meta fined record €1.2 billion in EU over US data transfers
  • As trade deficit rises, EU warned of overreliance on China and Bangladesh for textile imports
  • EU strives to win a bigger say in China's backyard

Features

An exquisite symphony of flavours awaits in the heart of Old Dhaka, as this vegetarian ensemble takes centre stage, showcasing the rich heritage of traditional cuisine. Photo: Noor-A-Alam

Jagannath Bhojonaloy: Vegetarianism, the traditional way

47m | Food
Infographic: TBS

Inside Airbus's mega plan to develop the aviation ecosystem in Bangladesh

3h | Panorama
How women's purchasing power is altering market dynamics

How women's purchasing power is altering market dynamics

2h | Panorama
Media companies are rushing to capture the youngest market of news consumers in the misplaced hope that this will ensure their survival. Photo: Bloomberg

News firms are too obsessed with wooing the young

1h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Turks are voting in presidential run-off

Turks are voting in presidential run-off

19h | TBS World
Temperature will surpass 1.5 degree by 2027

Temperature will surpass 1.5 degree by 2027

1d | TBS World
Dubai’s gigantic moon shaped mega resort

Dubai’s gigantic moon shaped mega resort

1d | TBS World
In an interview given to TBS Lt. Col. Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury

In an interview given to TBS Lt. Col. Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury

3d | TBS Stories

Most Read

1
End of zero tax!
NBR

End of zero tax!

2
Photo: TBS
Energy

Wind power feeds national grid for first time Friday

3
Photo: TBS
Bangladesh

Private helicopter service launched in Ctg

4
Malaysian ship docks at Mongla port with 926 luxurious cars
Bangladesh

Malaysian ship docks at Mongla port with 926 luxurious cars

5
Nagad builds hope on Tk510cr bond, incurs Tk625cr loss
Economy

Nagad builds hope on Tk510cr bond, incurs Tk625cr loss

6
Cenbank prints Tk70,000cr new money in 11 months to support nat'l budget
Budget

Cenbank prints Tk70,000cr new money in 11 months to support nat'l budget

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]