Debate: Preparation of the European Council meeting of  and  March  – Digital Green Certificate
Date: WEDNESDAY, 24 MARCH 2021
Speaker: Ana Paula Zacarias
Language: EN

One year after the outbreak of the pandemic, COVID-19 continues to dominate the agenda and we face serious challenges following the emergence of new spreads of new variants of the virus. Only vaccines can offer us a way out of the crisis. We need to do our utmost to help boost vaccine production and ensure more transparency, predictability and the supply of vaccines, so that we can speed up the vaccination campaigns across the EU. To this end, it is fundamental that companies respect their contractual delivery deadlines, and we support the efforts of the European Commission in this endeavour. The current epidemiological situation is still of great concern, but when the time comes to start a gradual return to normal life, we should make sure that we act in a coordinated way. Looking ahead, we want to make sure that we have solutions that work across Member States, and this is fundamental for our citizens, for our societies and for the recovery of our economies. This way, we welcome the legislation proposed by the European Commission on the Digital Green Certificate. It is also a key element for the European Parliament, and I am glad for this opportunity to discuss this further with you. The Council is ready to move fast in these proposals, so we have the certificate and the system functioning – hopefully – before the summer. This means that these proposals have to be dealt with in a very short framework. We do not have a lot of time, and we have to do this in our two institutions and between our two institutions in a spirit of transparency, cooperation and compromise. We should aim to reach a political agreement with the European Parliament by May. Work has already started at the Council preparatory bodies, and the Presidency aims to have a negotiating mandate by mid-April. On the content of the proposals, the Presidency believes that the European binding approach was necessary to guarantee common rules on the issuance and acceptance of the certificates and also their interoperability, without making vaccination a precondition to travel within the EU. In fact, a number of our citizens feared being discriminated against under this instrument, as not everyone could be vaccinated or wished to be vaccinated. In this regard, we believe that the Commission took the right approach when it included in this Digital Green Certificate the question of tests and also recovery certificates. I would like to reiterate the importance of ensuring inclusiveness and of paying attention not to exclude some categories of persons, such as elderly people and those with less access to digital technologies. On data protection, we consider that the principle of data minimisation and the fact that no data will be stored at European level are important guarantees that have been already included in the proposals. Furthermore, national personal data regulations will apply. Another important aspect to which Member States are attached is the need to ensure this interoperability with the work of the World Health Organization (WHO), and to continue to work in close collaboration with other international bodies. The implementation of an EU framework and national systems will require significant efforts from Member States, as there are many technological challenges. And for this reason, it will be important for them to receive expert technical and financial support from the Commission.  Finally, during the legislative process, we should not underestimate the importance of communicating in the right way on this initiative. The expectations of citizens on reopening Europe for travel will only rise as we approach the adoption of these instruments. I would like to raise, very briefly, a couple of other points concerning the EU leaders’ video teleconference (VTC). First, the EU economic response to COVID-19 has been steadfast and unprecedented. The regulation establishing the recovery and resilience facility has entered into force. We now need to implement it swiftly to support an EU-wide recovery in accordance with the new European Semester guidelines and, of course, the leaders will address this issue.  Secondly, they will discuss key elements of our economic base, namely the full functioning of the single market, the resilience and competitiveness of our industry and Europe’s open strategic autonomy. They will also address the question of the digital future, and here it is important to maintain an ambitious approach and ensure the digital transition is inclusive, leaving no one behind. The leaders will build on the 2030 Digital Compass and on the Digital Services Act package, which has been dealt with in the Council at a very progressive and intensive pace. The leaders will also address digital taxation. The EU stands behind efforts to find a global consensus, but will also be ready to look into a European solution, should there be no progress at international level. Finally, the leaders will also dedicate time to discussing external relations, in particular, to foster EU-US transatlantic relations and future cooperation through an informal exchange of views with President Biden. This is a very timely debate, taking into consideration the current geostrategic challenges at multilateral level from human rights, as we have seen, to the climate, from health to trade, as well as relations with Beijing and Moscow. On Russia, the President of the European Council has provided for just an information point for the leaders. This will take place in the context of the continuous negative pattern of shrinking space for the opposition, civil society and independent voices in Russia, which is a source of concern for all of us. They will also discuss Turkey. On the basis of the recent report by the High Representative and the Commission, they will assess the recent developments and discuss the way forward, including in the light of this recent Turkey withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention. The leaders will meet on Friday, and at the end of this meeting on Friday, they will have a discussion at the level of the euro summit, and in an inclusive format, they will discuss the international role of the euro, so it will be a very long and productive meeting, I’m sure.