Iata and Ibar ask Italy to align itself with Europe: the airlines join the heartfelt invitation that in these days is being received by the Government from the Regions, from the entire tourism sector and from hoteliers’ representatives in view of the next deadline January 31. Their note says:
“The invitation to the Government is to definitively eliminate the obligation to present a negative buffer in addition to the green pass, currently prescribed by the Ordinance of the Ministry of Health expiring on January 31st, and thus realign itself to the initial concept of the EU DCC to allow free movement within Europe. It is also requested that the validity of the green pass remain for 9 months, in line with what happens in most of the continent. Italy, at the moment, is heavily penalized and risks seeing the recovery of sectors such as air transport and tourism further compromised ”.
“It is now widely demonstrated that the EU Digital Covid Certificate, also known as the Green Pass, has been and continues to be the fundamental tool to combat the pandemic without imposing severe restrictions on people’s mobility and facilitating their movements in a safe manner. The certificate has been issued in more than 800 million copies and 60 countries on five continents have joined the system that manages it ».
“In December, the EU Commission published a Delegated Regulation which provides for a binding acceptance period of 9 months (to be exact 270 days) for the certificate for intra-European travel, while in Italy, for the same document, there would be a reduction in validity to 6 months starting from February 1st. The provisions of the Delegated Regulation will come into force throughout the EU from next February 1st; we are confident that the Government, in light of the current inconveniences, will take this opportunity to bring the Italian regulatory framework back into line with the system by far prevailing in Europe and, as regards the operations of non-European companies too, will positively resolve the ‘impasse created for crew members. In fact, for the latter, even if exempted from previous provisions for operational reasons, the obligation to present the so-called “reinforced green pass” still remains to access hotels normally used for compulsory stops between shifts ».
«The Council of the EU has published a recommendation calling on Member States to apply measures to combat COVID19 at a personal rather than a regional level. In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) has also expressed itself in favor of the abolition of further restrictions for fully vaccinated travelers and those who have recovered from COVID-19 in the six months preceding the trip. Adopting unilateral measures would mean returning to the fragmentation and uncertainties that have characterized the last two years and would not help restart the still heavily penalized tourism and air transport sector “.
“Countries such as Germany, Spain and Switzerland are already aligning themselves with the positions of international organizations, the United Kingdom has confirmed the elimination of the obligation of a negative swab for vaccinated passengers; it would be really counterproductive if Italy did not conform to European standards, thus seriously threatening the recovery of air transport and of the entire tourism sector ».