Radio România Internațional

Tag: movement

  • Brussels proposes digital green certificate

    Brussels proposes digital green certificate

    On Wednesday, the European Commission proposed to create an electronic green certificate to facilitate safe and free movement within the European Union during the coronavirus pandemic.



    The certificate will prove that the holder has either received a vaccine, or has tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 infection, or has had the disease and recovered. The document will be available free of charge, in digital or paper format, and will include a QR code to ensure security and authenticity. The European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean from Romania, explained in a TV statement:



    Adina Valean: What the Commission tries to do is propose an EU-wide regulation, which means a compulsory standard, rather than a voluntary one. This regulation will unify the various types of information. There will be only one digital green certificate, issued in the same way in all Member States, which may be checked easily at border crossing, and obviously designed to also counter the possible fraud types that we see emerging already.



    She emphasised however that no country may deny the access of non-vaccinated citizens. The Digital Green Certificate will not be a pre-condition to free movement and it will not discriminate in any way, the EU Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders said in turn.



    The Commission will create a gateway and support Member States to develop software that authorities can use to verify all certificate signatures across the EU. No personal data of the certificate holders passes through the gateway, or is retained by the verifying Member State.



    The certificates will include a limited set of information such as name, date of birth, date of issuance, relevant information about vaccine/test/recovery and a unique identifier of the certificate. They will be valid for all EU Member States and open for Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway as well as Switzerland. The new documents should also be issued to non-EU nationals who reside in the EU and to visitors who have the right to travel to other Member States.



    Member States remain free to accept proof of vaccination to waive certain public health restrictions such as testing or quarantine, and they would be required to accept, under the same conditions, the documents issued under the Digital Green Certificate system. In order to be ready by summer, the Commissions proposal needs to be endorsed quickly by the European Parliament and Council. The measure is temporary, and will be suspended once the World Health Organization (WHO) declares the end of the COVID-19 international health emergency. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • European coordination on the freedom of movement

    European coordination on the freedom of movement

    Convened in an online summit, the leaders of EU member states, including the president of Romania Klaus Iohannis have called this week for keeping in place firm anti-Covid-19 measures and for stepping up vaccine rollout, so as to prevent the spread of new variants.



    Amid the threats posed by the British and South-African strains, national vaccination programmes are affected by delays in vaccine supplies. This is why the European Commission is seeking, among other things, a larger number of doses in the second quarter, increased deliveries from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, and approval of the Johnson&Johnson vaccine.



    The EC president Ursula von der Leyen voiced optimism that by the end of this summer 70% of the EU citizens, i.e. 225 million people, will have been vaccinated.



    Meanwhile, at the EU summit, the European leaders agreed that for the time being non-essential travel should remain restricted, but that the free movement of goods and services in the single market must be ensured, including by means of green corridors.



    Originally, the 27 had promised proportionate and non-discriminatory restrictions. But the emergence of the new variants changed the situation, prompting some 10 countries to introduce additional conditions for border crossing. In this weeks top-level EU meeting, however, the Commission requested 6 of them, including Germany and Belgium, to provide explanations for the measures that the EU finds disproportionate.



    At the same time, European leaders failed to overcome disagreements over a future vaccine passport. On the one hand, scientific uncertainties still linger, said the EC president, Ursula von der Leyen, who said the vaccines have not yet been proven to prevent transmission. On the other hand, as the French president Emmanuel Macron pointed out, such a document should not give special rights to those who get the vaccine, particularly since their number is still rather low.



    There are however countries like Greece and Cyprus, whose economies rely heavily on tourism, which plead for a vaccination passport ahead of the forthcoming summer season.



    Eventually, the 27 member states tasked the Commission to draft technical criteria for the issue of vaccination passports, a mission expected to take at least 3 months to complete. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • Romanians and the freedom of movement

    Romanians and the freedom of movement

    Romania is not far from joining the Schengen visa-free area and from inclusion in the Visa Waiver programme, the European Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos said. He took part in Bucharest in a EU-USA ministerial meeting on justice and home affairs. The event was organized under the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU.



    Dimitris Avramopoulos said Romania will be very soon a member of the Schengen area, given that it has met most of its relevant commitments. He also added that the day is not far when Romanians will be able to travel without a visa to the USA. Romania and 4 other EU member states, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia and Poland, are waiting to be included in the Visa Waiver programme. Dimitris Avramopoulos talked about the importance of the cooperation between the US and the EU in terms of border management, security and migration.



    In March, the EU announced that as of 2021 US citizens will need visas in order to travel into Schengen countries. The European Commission had repeatedly requested Washington to waive visa requirements for the citizens of the 5 EU member states, because under the EU rules, all European citizens must have equal rights.



    Attending the meeting in Bucharest was also the US Attorney General William Barr, who on the sidelines of the ministerial event also had talks with Romanian officials, including President Klaus Iohannis and PM Viorica Dancila. The latter requested the support of the US Attorney General for Romania to be accepted in the Visa Waiver programme.



    The Prime Minister also said the Government of Romania is determined to find the best solutions to carry on the reform of the judiciary and criminal legislation, in line with Romanias international commitments, as well as with the recommendations of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, the Venice Commission, GRECO and the USA. The American official expressed his appreciation for the solid Strategic Partnership with Romania, which, he said, is the United States most reliable ally in the region.



    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)