Belgium expects clarity on EU travel rules within three weeks

Belgium expects clarity on EU travel rules within three weeks
Credit: Belga

Belgium will have to wait two or three more weeks before it will have clarity on the rules for travel this summer, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said at the Consultative Committee on Tuesday.

At the European Council meeting on 25 May, it will be determined how the EU's "Digital Green Certificate" can be used, and in which way it will ensure that travel can be made easier, according to De Croo.

"I am assuming that we will be able to clarify this within a few weeks, 3 weeks at most," he said. "However, I do not doubt that we will be able to go on holiday in Europe this summer, but the modalities have yet to be determined."

There is "a real chance" that we will have to use this instrument for travel, within or outside the EU, for some time, according to De Croo. "It will be used to make travel safe."

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Additionally, Belgium will also work out a system to enable people who want to attend a large summer festival to show that they are not infected, using a similar system, he explained.

"There will be a specific tool for that, limited in time to the end of September," De Croo said, adding that this system will likely make use of the tool that will be presented by the EU.

Additionally, he stressed that it was "very important" that this does not open the door to a society that uses some kind of system to see if people are allowed to do something, referring to the much-discussed "corona passes."

"So [for festivals], we want to make use of an opportunity that already exists to have very large events this summer, but it is absolutely not the intention that we will be using such a system to do everyday things later on or next year still," De Croo added.


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