European Union: confidence in the health passport does not exclude checks
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela at the European summit in Brussels, May 25, 2021. AP - John Thys
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
After a first part of their summit almost entirely devoted to the relationship with Belarus, the 27 heads of state and government of the EU were able to resume their planned agenda on Tuesday 25 May and discuss climate objectives as well as management. of the pandemic.
The discussion at 27 on the pandemic during this summit was greatly facilitated by the agreement reached Thursday, May 20 with the European Parliament for the implementation of the “European Covid-19 certificate”.
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With our correspondent in Brussels,
Pierre Benazet
For the 27, the European objective of relaunching the economy and tourism from July is now in sight with the prospect of the
“European Covid-19 certificate”
which will finally reopen the internal borders of the EU. The 27 have set its start for mid-June. They also want an interface with non-European countries.
"
It is also important to improve our coordination at the borders by better monitoring the variants, the intensity of third countries, by coordinating reopening,
" said French President Emmanuel Macron.
We must indeed ensure that the movements which will gradually resume towards third countries, in particular for tourism purposes, are not accompanied by the importation of new forms of the virus, and we will agree on a common global mapping to to be able together to follow the development of variants all over the world.
"
"
Emergency braking
"
The 27 have also set up an “
emergency braking
” system to re-establish barriers if a non-EU country sees its health situation worsen.
One of the aspects of the agreement on the “European Covid-19 certificate” still remains open: the possibility left open to States to reinstate restrictive measures such as quarantines.
This must be done in a limited way, but several of the member countries of the Union want to keep these tools of control without derogating from the agreement reached with the MEPs.
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To listen:
European health passport: "This is a fairly important first step"
►
To read also:
the European Commission and AstraZeneca find themselves before the Belgian justice
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European Union
Coronavirus
Vaccines
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