The Diplomat
The Secretary of State for the European Union, Juan González-Barba, yesterday warned his European counterparts of the need to speed up negotiations so that the COVID-19 digital certificate can be operational in June, before the summer tourist season.
González-Barba participated by videoconference in the EU General Affairs Council, which served as a preparatory meeting for the meeting of the EU Heads of State and Government at the European Council tomorrow and allowed an exchange of views on coordination measures to combat the pandemic and to restore mobility for the summer.
During the meeting, the ministers and deputy ministers for the EU welcomed the regulation proposed by the European Commission for the establishment of a digital certificate that favors the restoration of mobility and the Secretary of State, in addition to welcoming the immediate start of the legal and logistical work, stressed the importance that “the negotiations move forward as quickly as possible so that the certificate is operational in June, before the summer tourist season”, as reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release.
Likewise, the participants agreed that the seriousness of the situation requires an intensification of efforts in the production, delivery and deployment of vaccines and defended the relevance of the current travel restrictions and addressed the export of vaccines outside the EU and the donation of vaccines to developing countries. Precisely, EU leaders will discuss tomorrow at the European Council the possibility of banning vaccine exports to the UK in response to the UK’s withholding of vaccines produced in AstraZeneca’s UK factories.
The ministers and deputy ministers also addressed the functioning of the internal market and the importance of the review of the EU’s industrial policy, which the European Commission will present next April, as well as the digital transformation and data economy and efforts in the European and international framework on digital taxation. In this context, González-Barba insisted on the need to identify those areas relevant to improving the EU’s strategic autonomy.
