European Parliament wants free Covid tests to help travel in the EU

The Covid ‘passport’ that the European Union is preparing to launch to help the restart of travel this summer will serve to certify that a person has either been vaccinated, have recovered from the coronavirus, or if they have had a recent negative test, whether PCR or antigen. However, while vaccines are free to citizens throughout the EU, the price of a PCR test can well exceed 100 euros depending on the country.

The European Parliament wants to end this discrimination and asks that these tests are also supplied free to people who have not yet received the vaccine. This is to be one of the main demands of the European Parliament in the negotiation of the Covid ‘passport’ with the EU Council, where the Governments of the twenty-seven member states are represented.

"The Member States shall ensure universal, accessible, timely and free test possibilities in order to guarantee the right to freedom of movement within the Union without discrimination on economic or financial grounds," states the compromise amendment that will be approved tomorrow (Thursday) in the European Parliament, since it has the support of all the main political groups.

Until it is passed, it is not clear whether this will be applicable to those who have refused vaccination, or just those whose groups are not yet part of the vaccination plan to their countries progression or their age.