On Monday, April 3, the European Commission recommended that the Member States ease the current restrictions on non-essential travel into the EU to take into account the progress of vaccination campaigns and developments in the epidemiological situation worldwide.
This was announced by the press service of the European Commission.
According to the statement, the Commission “proposes to allow entry to the EU for non-essential reasons not only for all persons coming from countries with a good epidemiological situation but also all people who have received the last recommended dose of an EU-authorised vaccine. This could be extended to vaccines having completed the WHO emergency use listing process”.
In addition, in line with the evolution of the epidemiological situation in the EU, the Commission proposes to raise the threshold related to the number of new COVID-19 cases used to determine a list of countries from which all travel should be permitted. This should allow the Council to expand this list.
This should be facilitated once the Digital Green Certificate becomes operational, in line with the rules the Commission proposed on 17 March. In particular, travelers should be able to prove their vaccination status with a Digital Green Certificate issued by Member States' authorities on an individual basis, or with another certificate recognized as equivalent by virtue of a Commission adequacy decision.
It is now for the Council to consider this proposal. The first discussion is scheduled in the Council's integrated political crisis response (IPCR) meeting taking place on May 4, followed by a discussion at the meeting of EU Ambassadors on May 5.