EU sets out vaccine certificate plan to allow free travel by this summer

The travel industry and southern European countries dependent on tourism like Greece and Spain have been pushing for the quick introduction of the measure.

With summer looming and tourism-reliant countries anxiously waiting for the return of a steady influx of tourism income amid the pandemic, the European Union’s executive body presented a proposal Wednesday that would allow European citizens and residents — vaccinated or not — to travel freely across the 27-nation region by the summer.
 
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 the other.
 
The topic has been discussed for weeks and proved to be divisive. The travel industry