Group of EU States Work on Passport to Allow Travel Amid Pandemic

A group of EU members plans to present a list of priorities for the implementation of a scheme known as the green passport, which would facilitate travel in the bloc despite the coronavirus pandemic.

The green passports are to be implemented in a consistent and user-friendly way across borders, Austrian Tourism Minister Elisabeth Koestinger said on Monday, after a meeting with 12 other EU tourism ministers in Vienna.

The green passport is a certificate meant to contain information on the holder's Covid-19 vaccination and test results or previous infections, in order to facilitate travel.

Koestinger said that border-free travel should be possible again in the European Union by summer, after speaking with her colleagues from countries including France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Spain.

She also called for consistent criteria for entry requirements across the EU, for instance regarding the acceptance of a negative coronavirus test to allow travel.

Austria is especially dependent on tourism and has pushed for the EU's green passport project.

"The green passport should be valid and readable at every airport and every hotel in Europe," Koestinger said.

Koestinger said the planned time frame for implementing the passport, which is due to be released at the European level on June 1, was ambitious.

Germany's tourism commissioner Thomas Bareiss said Germany fully supported the goal of implementing the passport by June, adding that the certificate using a barcode would bring a basis for security and freedom.

Bareiss said the passport should be available to everyone. "In terms of technical access, but also the fact that we need to offer all people a vaccine."

In Austria, a first version is already to be introduced at the end of April, including coronavirus test results. It could be used, for example, to allow visits to the hairdresser.

©2021 dpa GmbH. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.