The end of the pandemic in Europe: EU Commission urges Member States to lift last remaining travel restrictions!

EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders has urged Member States, which still impose travel restrictions on coronaviruses, to abolish such measures.

"As the situation evolves, the EU Commission is working to ensure a speedy return to unrestricted free movement. We urge the Member States to lift the last remaining travel restrictions, especially where domestic measures are also lifted.", he said.

He made such calls while commenting on the adoption of the second EU impact report and implementation of the EU COVID digital certificate by the EU Commission on Tuesday, 15 March.

At the same time, he revealed that so far more than 1,7 billion certificates have been issued in EU Member States since they were adopted last year, in July 2021.

"To date, more than 1,7 billion certificates have been issued. The EU COVID Digital Certificate has proven to be a reliable and easy-to-use tool that allows citizens to travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.", Revealed the commissioner.

On 11 March, the EU Council approved the extension of the COVID Digital Certificate of the European Union for another year, until June 2023. The Commission also approved several amendments to the certificate to better adapt it to the evolution of the situation of Coronavirus in the EU, but also in the world.

Among the changes is the possibility of including all doses in a vaccination certificate, wherever they have been carried out, in order to facilitate the issuance by Member States of certificates for those fully vaccinated (vaccinated by booster after nine months).

At the same time, passengers will be eligible for recovery certificates if they have a positive COVID-19 antigen test, which has not been possible so far. And the third and final amendment requires the Commission to submit a detailed report on the certificate by 1 February next year.

To date, 62 countries have connected to the EU COVID digital certificate issuance system, of which 27 are EU Member States.