Commissioner Thierry Breton pays visit to Bucharest

The European bodies urge Romania to introduce the green certificate, which other states are already using, as a complementary measure to vaccination.

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Ştefan Stoica, 19.11.2021, 14:00

The visit of the European Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, to Bucharest comes at a complicated time: the country has an interim government, and statistics on infections with the novel coronavirus are still worrying, even though the number of cases reported daily has fallen. Thierry Breton says that, with the coming of winter, the low vaccination rate endangers the health of Romanians, which is also an obstacle in the way of the full recovery of the country and the European Union as a whole.

The European official’s discussions with the Romanian authorities, with health professionals and non-governmental organizations representaives were a plea in favor of vaccination and introducing the green certificate, an issue tackled bya draft law currently debated in the Chamber of Deputies. The vote on the green COVID certificate, together with the vaccine, ensures survival during the pandemic, says the European Commissioner, Thierry Breton, who added that it is high time Europeans were united, because only together this war can be won. He went on to say: We are all Europeans, we share the same values. Its time to act. We cant postpone it for a few months, because the virus isnt waiting. It is important that the green certificate is voted on and used, because we know that vaccination and the green certificate are the key to ensuring our survival and it is equally important that we should be part of the European community, the EU Commissioner added.

Thierry Breton gas given assurances that the European Commission will continue its efforts to manage the COVID-19 pandemic and called on Member States to properly use the tools and mechanisms created within the EU. The EU Commissioner met with the interim ministers of defense and health and was received by President Klaus Iohannis. The latter praised the European Commissions support for managing the health crisis and emphasized the need to continue to coordinate Member States actions and maintain unity at EU level.

Klaus Iohannis reiterated that the vaccine is the main tool in fighting SARS-CoV-2. Regarding the green certificate, the pace of debates in the Chamber of deputies, which is the decision-making body in this case, seems to have got in tune with the pace of negotiations between the National Liberal Party – PNL and the Social Democratic Party – PSD on the future government. The political crisis delays the adoption in Parliament of the law on imposing the green certificate, says the head of the Health Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, the Liberal Nelu Tătaru. The parliamentary parties have so far failed to agree on the number of days for which testing for unvaccinated employees will be covered from the state budget. The Liberals have proposed 30 days, while the Social Democrats would like a 60-day grace period. A political agreement in the government will speed up the adoption of the green certificate. (LS)