I’ll tell you about the European circus of the vaccine passport
How the European Union moves on the vaccination passport. The in-depth analysis by Tino Oldani for Italia Oggi
“I will see my Greek counterpart and we will talk about the digital green certificate for a consistent recovery in tourism. Our line is maximum coordination, to avoid unfair competition ».
Thus Enzo Amendola, Undersecretary for EU Affairs, in an interview with Corriere della Sera , explained the line of the Italian government on the vaccine passport, which in a couple of months will become indispensable for traveling and tourism in Europe. A correct line, in principle, which hinges on a single EU vaccination passport, thanks to the desired political coordination between the governments of the 27 EU countries.
It happens, however, that the European green passport is still being studied in Brussels, which, as usual, is proceeding slowly, while some countries, Italy's competitors in tourism, have already gone ahead, each acquiring its own legislation to allow the resumption of tourist activity, not only with the indication of precise dates on reopening, but also with the use of technologies different from each other.
Even outside the EU, numerous airlines and different countries, first of all the United States, have equipped themselves with apps with their own standards. Technologies that are unlikely to be compatible with the application that the EU will choose as a "green certificate" to be installed on mobile phones to check vaccinations and the absence of Covid-19 infections at the borders. Enough to fear a European chaos of vaccination passports in the middle of summer, which would add to the bad contracts stipulated by the EU Commission with Big Pharma for the supply of vaccines.
The bureaucratic process of the vaccination passport took the first step on Wednesday 14 April: the ambassadors of the 27 EU countries, gathered via the web in Coreper, gave the green light to talks between the European Parliament and the EU Commission to define the peculiarities of the "certificate digital green ', proposed by the Commission to ease travel restrictions in the summer season, in the belief that the pandemic will slow down. If all goes according to forecasts, the EU vaccination passport will become operational in June.
Two and a half months to discuss the peculiarities of a mobile app, seen by the ordinary citizen, can seem like a huge time. In Brussels, however, they speak of it as a miraculous speed record. Just think of the times of the Recovery Fund: approved on July 25 last year by the council of heads of state and government, it was ratified by the EU parliament five months later, on December 14, and is still not operational because the green disk is missing. of 10 out of 27 EU countries, with Germany and the Netherlands in the lead. In the case of the vaccine passport, the delay does not depend on financial issues, but on the legal tendency to split the hair in four, typical of the Euroburocracy.
Obviously, the digital green certificate will have to provide proof that those who loaded it on their mobile phones have been vaccinated or tested negative after Covid, essential conditions for being able to travel freely and safely within the EU. But will the personal data collected in this way be used for other purposes? The EU council said it was in favor of making other uses, without specifying which ones.
This faculty, according to some MEPs questioned by the euractiv.eu website, would however be incompatible with respect for privacy: for this reason the EU parliament should clearly state that the vaccine passport does not create a legal basis, in individual states, for uses other than free circulation. . In any case, to avoid it becoming a second passport, the EU council agreed that the application should include the following writing: "This certificate is not a travel document". By comparison, Manzoni's Azzeccagarbugli was an amateur.
Then there is the problem of the duration of the app. The EU Commission, led by Ursula von der Leyen, opposed to setting an expiration date, said it was in favor of validity until the World Health Organization declares the pandemic over. Not everyone agrees in the council of 27 EU countries: some governments have asked for a 12-month limit, starting from the date of entry into force of the application.
Little confident that this debate in Brussels will end by June, some countries have already moved on their own, with autonomous regulations and technologies. Greece, for example, has agreed to provide workers in tourism and related sectors with a free kit to allow each person the Covid-19 self-test, the result of which must be reported to a state-run online database. In case of positivity, the person concerned must repeat the test every 24 hours. Failure to comply with the rules will be punished with penalties of 1,500 euros for the worker and his company.
Other countries have equipped themselves with Covid tracking apps, but no one knows whether their technology will be able to integrate and dialogue with that of the EU green certificate. The Politico.eu website has published a first list of these countries and their applications, in the lead Estonia, France and Germany, where respect for privacy, demanded by the majority of the population, has forced the adoption of different apps from country to country. , which, in addition to functioning badly (like the Italian Immuni), do not communicate with each other, and almost certainly will not be able to do so with the European one. A technological tangle that will have to be dismantled as soon as possible, to avoid the failure of the European green passport, and as a consequence of the tourist season. With economic and social costs that, for Italy, would be devastating.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/vi-racconto-il-circo-europeo-del-passaporto-vaccinale/ on Sat, 17 Apr 2021 06:10:59 +0000.