File photo: Passengers arriving from countries listed as Covid-19 red zones register for coronavirus tests upon their arrival at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport, Roissy, France. AFP
File photo: Passengers arriving from countries listed as Covid-19 red zones register for coronavirus tests upon their arrival at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport, Roissy, France. AFP
File photo: Passengers arriving from countries listed as Covid-19 red zones register for coronavirus tests upon their arrival at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport, Roissy, France. AFP
File photo: Passengers arriving from countries listed as Covid-19 red zones register for coronavirus tests upon their arrival at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport, Roissy, France. AFP

EU politicians approve Covid pass but it may not ensure smooth travel


Soraya Ebrahimi
  • English
  • Arabic

European politicians on Thursday approved an EU-wide Covid-19 certificate sought by southern member states to help revive summer tourism.

But the move could be undermined by their different vaccination and testing rules.

Then fate of the project, which tourism-dependent countries Spain and Greece hope will help to resuscitate their economies, hinges on further negotiations between EU politicians, executive commission and member states.

It aims to introduce a standard pass for people who have been vaccinated or tested negative for the virus to travel across the 27-nation bloc.

But national differences over recognising negative antibody tests on top of PCR tests, technical difficulties with a single EU gateway, worries about discrimination against those who have not been vaccinated, and privacy issues mean finding common ground might be tricky, diplomats said.

The probable result is a system that would introduce Covid-19 certificates as a minimum common denominator, but leave leeway to each country on what rights they would be willing to grant to holders of the passes.

In voting overwhelmingly for a certificate, the European Parliament said member states should not impose more travel restrictions on those carrying it, and that free testing should be widely available.

But the European Commission has proposed that countries should be able to retain extra requirements, as many member states want.

"The certificate is not about allowing or forbidding travel," commission spokesman Eric Mamer said on Thursday. "It's a system of information on your health status in relation to Covid.

"Member states have the prerogatives, the responsibility when it comes to health safety measures (required for entry). The green digital certificate does not change this."

As the complex EU process grinds on, many countries are putting their own systems in place, increasing the risk of a disjointed set of rules that would fail to ensure uniform travel across the bloc.

Hungary said on Thursday it would pursue bilateral deals on recognising Covid-19 vaccine certificates that would allow citizens to travel among participating countries.

Others, including Estonia, Lithuania, Greece, Spain, Germany and France, are introducing their own solutions to record vaccinations.

Member states will be allowed to keep their own systems in place even after an EU-wide process is in place.

They would be obliged to honour vaccines authorised for the whole bloc by the European Medicines Agency – those from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca.

But each country would decide how to treat people who received Russian or Chinese shots.

The Travel Diaries of Albert Einstein The Far East, Palestine, and Spain, 1922 – 1923
Editor Ze’ev Rosenkranz
​​​​​​​Princeton

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
FIXTURES (all times UAE)

Sunday
Brescia v Lazio (3.30pm)
SPAL v Verona (6pm)
Genoa v Sassuolo (9pm)
AS Roma v Torino (11.45pm)

Monday
Bologna v Fiorentina (3.30pm)
AC Milan v Sampdoria (6pm)
Juventus v Cagliari (6pm)
Atalanta v Parma (6pm)
Lecce v Udinese (9pm)
Napoli v Inter Milan (11.45pm)

The Specs

Engine 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 582bhp (542bhp in GTS model)

Torque: 730Nm

Price: Dh649,000 (Dh549,000 for GTS) 

COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Sav%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Purvi%20Munot%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%24750%2C000%20as%20of%20March%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Angel%20investors%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Stamp%20duty%20timeline
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDecember%202014%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%20Former%20UK%20chancellor%20of%20the%20Exchequer%20George%20Osborne%20reforms%20stamp%20duty%20land%20tax%20(SDLT)%2C%20replacing%20the%20slab%20system%20with%20a%20blended%20rate%20scheme%2C%20with%20the%20top%20rate%20increasing%20to%2012%20per%20cent%20from%2010%20per%20cent%3A%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EUp%20to%20%C2%A3125%2C000%20%E2%80%93%200%25%3B%20%C2%A3125%2C000%20to%20%C2%A3250%2C000%20%E2%80%93%202%25%3B%20%C2%A3250%2C000%20to%20%C2%A3925%2C000%20%E2%80%93%205%25%3B%20%C2%A3925%2C000%20to%20%C2%A31.5m%3A%2010%25%3B%20More%20than%20%C2%A31.5m%20%E2%80%93%2012%25%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EApril%202016%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20New%203%25%20surcharge%20applied%20to%20any%20buy-to-let%20properties%20or%20additional%20homes%20purchased.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EJuly%202020%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Chancellor%20Rishi%20Sunak%20unveils%20SDLT%20holiday%2C%20with%20no%20tax%20to%20pay%20on%20the%20first%20%C2%A3500%2C000%2C%20with%20buyers%20saving%20up%20to%20%C2%A315%2C000.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMarch%202021%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mr%20Sunak%20extends%20the%20SDLT%20holiday%20at%20his%20March%203%20budget%20until%20the%20end%20of%20June.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EApril%202021%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202%25%20SDLT%20surcharge%20added%20to%20property%20transactions%20made%20by%20overseas%20buyers.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EJune%202021%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20SDLT%20holiday%20on%20transactions%20up%20to%20%C2%A3500%2C000%20expires%20on%20June%2030.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EJuly%202021%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Tax%20break%20on%20transactions%20between%20%C2%A3125%2C000%20to%20%C2%A3250%2C000%20starts%20on%20July%201%20and%20runs%20until%20September%2030.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
F1 The Movie

Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Rating: 4/5

World Cup final

Who: France v Croatia
When: Sunday, July 15, 7pm (UAE)
TV: Game will be shown live on BeIN Sports for viewers in the Mena region

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

The White Lotus: Season three

Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5

Votes

Total votes: 1.8 million

Ashraf Ghani: 923,592 votes

Abdullah Abdullah: 720,841 votes