As Europe looks to summer, EU sets out coronavirus passport plan

While tourism-reliant countries have welcomed the move, others caution that such a certificate should be launched when more are vaccinated.

With Europe heading into summer looming and tourism-reliant countries anxiously waiting for the return of visitors, the European Union’s executive body have presented a proposal that would allow the bloc’s 450 million people – vaccinated or not – to travel freely across the 27-nation bloc within months. The plan, which will be discussed next week during a summit of EU leaders, foresees the creation of vaccine certificates aimed at facilitating travel from one member state to another. “We all want the tourist season to start. We can’t afford to lose another season,” European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova told Czech public radio. “Tourism, and also culture and other sectors that are dependent on tourism terribly suffer. We’re talking about tens of millions jobs.”