Generating a Europe-wide digital certificate to open up travel and tourism was a high priority for the EU following the much-criticised vaccine roll-out earlier this year.
Legislation to create a digital platform that all 27 member states could plug in to was agreed in record time (62 days). "The European Union is delivering for its citizens," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on its launch on 1 July. "We are helping Europeans get back the freedom they value and cherish so much." The Digital Covid Certificate (DCC), however, faced a stormy passage.
Countries like Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece that are heavily dependent on tourism pushed the hardest to have a single, Europe-wide system that would revive devastated