Ursula von der Leyen responded at a press conference in Ljubljana when asked about Germany’s decision to ban travel from Portugal even for holders of the EU digital covid-19 certificate, which came into force today in the community space.
“We have a recommendation issued by the Commission and approved by the Council. Thus, all 27 member states agreed on travel processing procedures, covid and EU certification. This recommendation includes an emergency brake that allows you to act quickly if there is a worrying option, ”said the President of the Community Executive, stressing that for some reason the brake“ was on ”.
Von der Leyen, who came to Ljubljana with his college in the second half of the year at the beginning of Slovenia’s presidency of the EU Council, acknowledged that this mechanism “requires information between member states and, of course, coordination between member states.”
“Since all Member States have expressed their support, I urge them to follow your recommendation and adhere to the agreed general rules. Therefore, I am sure that in the case mentioned, Germany and Portugal will follow their own recommendation, “he said, without going into details, namely indicating who may not comply with the rules, and this after the Commission itself noted that obviously Berlin does not fully complied with the agreements at the European level.
Asked about the same question, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who replaced Antonio Costa today as Acting President of the EU Council, confined himself to saying that the Slovenian Presidency “will do everything in its power” in the sense that member states comply with the rules. agreed at the European level for free movement in the context of a pandemic and for the use of a European certificate.
At the end of last week, Germany classified Portugal as an area with “dangerous options”, namely due to the spread of the Delta strain, which in practice leads to a travel ban in effect from Tuesday due to the activation of the EU brake mechanism to deal with alarming situations.
The German travel ban from Portugal is the only ban in the EU when the covid-19 digital certificate comes into force and more than 200 million proofs of recovery or vaccination have been issued.
“The good news is that we have not received any further notifications about this. We have the information we have already mentioned here about Germany and about [viagens de] Portugal, but we have no news of any other member state that intends to impose additional restrictions on people holding certificates, ”said Christian Wiegand, a spokesman for the local justice executive.
At an institution’s daily press conference in Brussels, is the community leader concerned about this restriction, on the day the covid-19 digital certificate, testing confirmation, recovery or vaccination confirmation, which is designed to facilitate spread in space, goes into effect, Christian Wiegand emphasized: “No, we are not we are worried, we are sure. “
“We have all member states connected and no other member states warned us about the restrictions. [pelo que] we’ve come a long way already, ”said the spokesman.
A community leadership source told Lusa on Wednesday that the European Commission is analyzing whether Germany’s decision to put Portugal on the COVID-19 travel red list is “proportionate” and could put pressure on Berlin.
Christian Wiegand said today that even with a certificate, countries “can impose restrictions, but they must justify and advise the Commission and other EU countries.”
Even so, the measures envisaged by the braking mechanism should, according to the leader of the community, result in “the application of strict measures such as tests and quarantines, and the imposition of travel bans should be avoided,” he defended.
“That’s why we said that this measure [alemã] It appears that she does not fully agree with the recommendation and that is the reason why the Commission acted by asking the Council to discuss the matter, ”said the spokesman.
The European digital certificate for immunization against covid-19 or negative testing came into force today and more than one million have already been issued in Portugal.
Data released today by the European Commission shows that more than 200 million certificates have already been issued at the EU level.
Even before the official deadline for entry into force, 21 Member States, as well as the countries of the European Economic Area (Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) have already started issuing certificates. The other five EU countries are starting to do so today.
Since it is a document for general and uniform use throughout the EU, as well as in the countries of the Economic Area, the national authorities must determine the rules for its internal use.
In mid-June, the EU Council adopted a recommendation for a coordinated approach to travel, suggesting that at least one dose vaccinated and recovered from covid-19 should not be subject to restrictive measures such as quarantine or testing.