The Diplomat
The Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, insisted yesterday on his proposal for the creation of a European certificate of vaccination against COVID-19 in order to “recover tourism” in his country and “also in Spain”.
During his speech at the NEF Online telematic meeting, organized by New Economy Forum, the head of the Greek Executive recalled that tourism is a “critical” sector for the economies of southern Europe, so “it is necessary a European approach to make a vaccination certificate to facilitate travel”. “We want people to be able to travel and feel safe doing so”, he continued. “If the vaccine is approved, people will be able to enter the country safely, without significant restrictions and quarantine, and enjoy a vacation in Greece”, he said. Therefore, the creation of the certificate would contribute to “recovering tourism also in countries like Spain”, he added.
According to Mitsotakis, the European Commission will go in “this direction” with respect to the certificates. However, he warned, if the Commission does not finally second this initiative, “the EU Member States will”, including those in the north, such as Germany and Denmark, whose citizens interested in tourism in southern Europe “will put pressure on their own governments” to provide them with a “vaccination certificate” that will serve as a “guarantee” for travel to other countries.
The proposal for the adoption of a vaccination certificate accepted by all EU Member States was presented in mid-January by Kyriakos Mitsotakis himself in a letter addressed to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and to the other European leaders. The initiative is based on the procedures put in place in Greece to “facilitate the freedom of movement of persons who have been vaccinated against COVID-19” through the issuance of a “standardized certificate”.
Spanish government sources immediately admitted that the Greek proposal is “very positive” and is “very much in line” with the international mobility strategy presented in mid-December by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), to achieve greater multilateral coordination in the design of an international mobility strategy, including, among other measures, the development of common protocols on testing, certification and quarantine. The Spanish government even endorsed the Greek proposal just a week later, when Pedro Sánchez himself warned during the European Council on COVID-19 of the need to establish a European vaccination certificate recognized by all countries “with a view to its interoperability”.
At the same NEF event (in which the President of the PP, Pablo Casado, and the Secretary General of the EPP, Antonio López-Istúriz, also spoke), the Vice-President of the European Commission, the also Greek Margaritis Schinas, assured that the Commission is in a position to guarantee vaccination “for all Europeans” and that, to date, the EU has already purchased 2.6 billion doses, has absorbed 25% of the world production of vaccines, has dispatched 33 million doses and 24 million people have been vaccinated. “Those who attacked the European strategy were hasty. This item will be judged at the end, not at the beginning of the process”, he said.
