France wants to be the first EU member country to put in place a COVID-19 travel pass, a first example of digital green pass the European Commission wants to roll out across the bloc by mid-June, reports Politico.
“Last summer, it was total mayhem, because we had different classifications, risk zones that were not the same from one country to another,” France’s Europe minister Clément Beaune told France Info on Tuesday.
“This summer, I hope we will reclaim our freedom thanks to the vaccination, our restraint and this digital certification,” he said.
The contact-tracing TousAntiCovid app has been downloaded by close to 15 million people and has been updated to include negative PCR and antigen tests. It will also be updated to include vaccination certificates by the end of the month, France’s digital minister Cédric O announced Monday.
The Commission wants to roll out its plan for a digital green pass — meant to verify a person's vaccination, testing or immunity status across the EU — by June. But Beaune said the pass will not be mandatory for all member countries, raising concerns about different rules emerging across the borderless bloc.