The European Commission President reportedly plans on using COVID-19 vaccination passports to make travel within the European Union easy.
According to LifeSite News, European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen announced via Twitter on Monday plans to use a "Digital Green Pass" that will help Europeans "move safely" within the European Union "for work or tourism."
LifeSite added that the pass will be proof that the person has already been vaccinated. While, for those who haven't been vaccinated yet, it will include the results of the person's COVID-19 test. The pass will also include information COVID19 recovery. The European Commission President assured that the person's data protection will be kept safe and private.
"We'll present this month a legislative proposal for a Digital Green Pass. The aim is to provide: proof that a person has been vaccinated, results of tests for those who couldn't get a vaccine yet, info on COVID19 recovery. It will respect data protection, security & privacy," Von Der Leyen said on Twitter.
"The Digital Green Pass should facilitate Europeans' lives," she added. "The aim is to gradually enable them to move safely in the European Union or abroad--for work or tourism."
We'll present this month a legislative proposal for a Digital Green Pass. The aim is to provide:
"¢Proof that a person has been vaccinated
"¢Results of tests for those who couldn't get a vaccine yet
"¢Info on COVID19 recoveryIt will respect data protection, security & privacy
"” Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) March 1, 2021
France 24 reported that Von Der Leyen actually announced plans to submit the legislative proposal within the current month during a video conference she held Monday with conservative lawmakers from Germany.
As per France 24, governments within the European Union are seeing COVID-19 "passports" or "status certificates" as a means to end lockdowns and curfews which hamper travel, especially now that vaccinations are ongoing. The "passports" or "status certificates" are said to be used as vaccination proofs of a person so as to avoid quarantine protocols upon arrival in another country.
The governments of Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain are working in a similar vein, France 24 said, to have vaccination certificates. In fact, Greece already launched last February its digital vaccination certificate for those who have completed the two doses of the vaccine.
LifeSite said that Von Der Leyen's proposal have met mixed reviews among the members of the European Union due to concern for potential discrimination should people be segregated in airports on the basis of their documentation.
France 24 cited the French and German governments to have raised this concern on discrimination since other people would be waiting in airports while others have ease in travel because of their vaccination passport.
In particular, France Health Minister Olivier Veran expressed concern on the vaccination passports being premature because of the percentage of people actually vaccinated already in France, which is fewer than three million for those who have received the first dose as of date.
There is also the concern whether the vaccines are effective in preventing transmission, a matter similarly viewed by the World Health Organization, France 24 stressed.
While LifeSite cited the Greek government backing up Von Der Leyen's proposal in line with their own passport program that they hope would aid tourism as it will work as a "fast lane inside the airports".
Greece Digital Governance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis described the vaccination passport as having the "opportunity to go to a different lane from those who haven't been vaccinated" yet, even though the infrastructure for it in the European Union is non-existent, that it would seem "absurd" at this point in time.
