Statement by Commissioners Kyriakides and Reynders on the Council agreement to strengthen coordination of safe travel in the EU

27 Jan 2022 10:56 AM

Statement given recently (25 January 2022) by Commissioners Kyriakides and Reynders on the Council agreement to strengthen coordination of safe travel in the EU.

EU ministers recently reached an agreement on updating the rules to facilitate safe and free movement in the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic. This agreement follows the Commission's proposal of 25 November 2021.

Welcoming the adoption by the Council, Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, and Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, recently said:

“Since the start of the pandemic, we have put forward solutions to safeguard and facilitate safe and free movement in the context of health measures made necessary by the pandemic. Close coordination at EU level has been essential, not only for the functioning of the Single Market, but in particular to provide clarity and safety for people traveling within the EU. Clarity and predictability for our citizens is key to the success of safe travel, through our well-established and very successful EU Digital COVID Certificate. More than 1.2 billion certificates issued testify to the success of this tool, which has been rolled out across the EU and on a global scale. It is a true European success story that has gone global.

Today, Member States have reconfirmed that the possession of a valid EU Digital COVID Certificate should in principle be sufficient when travelling during the pandemic. This agreement thus puts the EU Digital COVID Certificate at the heart and centre of our coordinated approach. It is important that Member States follow up on this agreement and implement the rules agreed without delay. Each Member State decides based on the circumstances it is facing. But Omicron has by now spread across Europe and it is time to look at the discontinuation of the additional travel measures that a number of Member States have introduced in the past weeks, making travel more cumbersome and less predictable across the EU.  

We now call on all Member States to implement the common rules swiftly to ensure coordination and clarity for our citizens and travellers.”

Click here for the full press release