Covid European passports arriving at an airport near March

The measure, which has been criticized for being potentially discriminatory against those for whom the vaccine is not readily available, was announced Monday by Commission Head Ursula von der Leyen. “We will present a legislative proposal in March,” he told German lawmakers on Monday. “The aim is to allow them to progressively move safely to the European Union or abroad, for work or tourism reasons,” he said in a follow-up tweet.

Not surprisingly, not all EU member states have adopted this measure equally. Greece, which depends on tourism, has already created its own COVID-19 passport with the aim of opening the country’s picturesque islands this summer. The Italian island of Sardinia, which is currently the only unrestricted “white zone” in Italy thanks to efforts to control who enters the island, has also said it can only land vaccinated people.

The Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, Spain and Portugal issue a national certificate after full vaccination linked to their national health plans, although they are not recognized transnationally.

Spain and Italy have also applauded the EU-wide measure, while France and Belgium, where vaccine implementation has been hampered, have criticized the plan, saying it would only pave the way for discrimination.

Several countries have also argued that it should be demonstrated that vaccinated people cannot pass the virus, which has not yet been established by the larger medical community or the World Health Organization.

In January, the EU agreed on the metrics for a European vaccination certificate, but new legislation would lay the groundwork for eventually extending beyond Europeans and even allowing foreign nationals who can prove they have been vaccinated to enter the EU without having to quarantine.

Von der Leyen also said he believes 70 percent of all adult members of the 27 members should be inoculated by the end of the summer, considering it a “target we are confident of.”