EU parliamentarians protest against demands to issue Covid-19 passports

From Wednesday, everyone visiting the European Parliament headquarters in Brussels, Luxembourg or Strasbourg must present a Covid passport, meaning that they have been vaccinated, have recently tested negative, or have the disease and antibodies.

The passport requirement led to some beatings of some of the 705 members of Parliament. Conservative Christian Terhes of Romania believes that a passport threatens basic human rights, such as the ability to decide about one’s own body.

– The inability of us parliamentarians and our employees and employees of Parliament to enter the building raises concerns, He says At a press conference in Brussels with three other parliamentarians.

One of them is Kristen Anderson, Germany’s far-right alternative.

– I’m not afraid of Covid-19 at all. I’m afraid governments will take advantage of this crisis to restrict civil liberties, she says.

https://twitter.com/CristianTerhes/status/1451239167783055360

The Italian Francesca Donata also belongs to the group. But she was previously a member of the right-wing nationalist Lega left the party in September when she joined the Italian government’s intensified measures against the spread of infection.

Francesca Donata has it together with six other members He wrote a letter to David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament They protested the Covid pass. They write, among other things, that “every medical procedure must be preceded by free and informed consent. This also applies to testing”.

Of the six, one belongs to the left, one belongs to the Green Party, one belongs to the Christian Democratic group, two belongs to the Conservatives and one to the far right. Members are from France and the Netherlands.

In their letter, they emphasized that the Covid passport requirement violates basic principles: “An elected representative who fulfills all legal obligations should never be denied entry to Parliament.”

What will happen on Wednesday? It’s not entirely clear if members who don’t have a covidpass want to enter Parliament House. The message from the Press Service of Parliament is that the guards must initially be adapted to technical problems or other ambiguities as well as to individual reasons. They should also point out the fact that it is possible to take the test for free on the premises.

– But if people reject covidpass on principled grounds, the new rules apply, says a spokesperson for the press service.

The person asserts that the procedure was introduced in consultation with the partisan groups and after consulting legal and medical advisors as well as experts in data integrity. The passport application must also have been requested by members who want to return to regular physical meetings, but are concerned that the spread of infection and the low rate of vaccination in some EU countries will allow infection to enter Parliament.

Most members travel frequently between their home countries and Parliament.

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