Greek PM Mitsotakis proposes joint EU vaccination certificate to ease travel

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is calling for the creation of an EU-wide Covid-19 vaccination certificate that will help restore safe travel that has been devastated by the pandemic.

According to Politico, the idea was addressed in a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

“While we are not going to make vaccination compulsory or a prerequisite for travel, persons who have been vaccinated should be free to travel,” he said.

“It is urgent to adopt a common understanding on how a vaccination certificate should be structured so as to be accepted in all member states,” Mitsotakis continued.

The Greek PM hopes to bring up the issue at the European Union summit on January 21.

He added that while such a process “may sound simple… the lengthy experience we have had on developing a common Passenger Locator Form has shown us that there is an urgent need for a high-level EU-wide mobilization to move things forward.”

If EU states can agree on a common formula “we can then push the issue forward in the relevant international fora, thus contributing to the re-establishment of mobility on a global scale,” the letter said.

“For countries such as Greece, which are dependent on tourism, it’s imperative that this issue is resolved before the summer season.”

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 146,020 confirmed infections, with 5,329 deaths.

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