Regardless of the fact that vaccinations against Covid-19 are only progressing at a snail's pace in the European Union, the Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) is now pushing for a "privilege pass for vaccinated people". He wants to enforce this at EU level and, if that does not succeed, only introduce it in Austria.

Kurz makes no secret of the fact that Israel is the model. The "Vaccination World Champion" grants those who have recovered and vaccinated a so-called "Green pass“, Which acts as a door opener for just about anything. Just a few weeks ago, Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) categorically ruled out that people who had been immunized against Covid-19 should receive any relief.

Pensioners and tourism are putting pressure on them

But the government is facing massive pressure from various quarters. This is, for example, the domestic tourism industry, which is pushing for guests to be received as easily as possible. Due to the messed up Corona policy, many companies are only concerned with bare survival.

Another group that is pushing for this are those who have been given special privileges in the form of vaccinations. First and foremost, these are retirees who are already thinking about their next vacation at the booth, because with the vaccination the Corona issue is over. In this age group there is also an important core voter group of the ÖVP, which Sebastian Kurz has in mind, because the voter turnout is traditionally very high among older people and he does not want to mess with them.

However, pressure is also coming from airlines and other transport companies, because they want to transport many passengers again as quickly as possible. In this context, it should also be pointed out that thousands of employees at airports and at Austrian Airlines are on short-time work and cause the state to incur monthly costs that are no longer there if the industry is successfully restarted.

Sebastian Kurz, who a few weeks ago his Minister of Health, Anschober drove to the bow in matters of flight bans and described it as “ineffective”, but allowed it to be extended several times, wants to reactivate freedom of travel in Europe with the “Green Pass”. In this context, it should also be pointed out that Sebastian Kurz and his party colleague and Interior Minister Nehammer are the driving forces behind the absurd entry regulations of Austria are. Anschober is said to have only been responsible for drafting the sometimes contradicting text and for the signature.

Kurz said on Tuesday: “We need freedom of travel back within the European Union. This requires a green passport for everyone who is vaccinated or who has just had Corona and is therefore immune or has taken a new test ”. This “Green Pass”, which the Austrian Prime Minister “copied” from Israel, is needed to “get through the summer properly”.

The Austrian Chancellor expects a uniform solution in the form of a mobile phone app to be implemented at EU level. Here, too, he again refers to Israel, because this state has largely solved it in the same way. Kurz believes this is "easy to do". Of course, the Chancellor did not say exactly how it should work.

German CDU-CSU clique is on the brakes

However, Kurz said that he had exchanged views with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Some EU heads of government would support his project and the concerns of other countries must now be broken. In this context, it is also worth mentioning that countries dependent on tourism such as Malta, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Bulgaria and others are massively pushing for a uniform solution for as free travel as possible. The brake proves - above all - Germany, in persons Angela Merkel (CDU), Jens Spahn (CDU) and Markus Söder (CSU), whereby the latter politician does not belong to the German federal government. France is also stepping on the brake pedal quite well - probably under pressure from Germany.

Accordingly, it is not surprising that party colleague Ursula von der Leyen (CSU), who heads the EU Commission, does not give the entire issue a particularly high priority. You don't want to go against the party line, even if the authority it heads is largely responsible for the vaccination chaos in Europe. But recently there was also knatsch: Söder wanted to make the border with Tyrol almost impermeable and only an intervention at Horst Seehofer (CSU) and Angela Merkel is said to have brought relief at least for "essential commuters".

Kurz expects "normality in summer"

In view of the fact that vaccinations are also progressing slowly in Austria and the normal population has no clue whether a vaccination is possible or not before a possible summer vacation, it seems almost surprising that Sebastian Kurz believes that the return to normality by summer is "absolutely realistic ”. He also said: “We all want to get back to normal life as soon as possible. We want the freedom back to travel within Europe - regardless of whether for business or pleasure - and above all we want the opportunity to go into cultural events, restaurants and hotels and to be able to enjoy them. "

How contradicting the members of the government express themselves was again shown on Wednesday: Anschober said that unequal treatment through vaccination passports like in Israel is a "highly political, ethical question that is an exciting discussion". One has to discuss whether one can use vaccinations as a “door opener for unequal treatment”. He then added that one would have to wait and see "how large the proportion of those vaccinated actually is". But what Anschober did not say: Why the ministry he heads mainly relies on controversial cheap vaccine, which is increasingly rejected by medical staff, and why countries like Israel or the United Kingdom can carry out the vaccination campaign faster and more effectively, while there is a lack of vaccine doses in Austria .

Rudolf Anschober, who in autumn just before the announcement of lockdown number two said that there would be no more lockdown and he believes this to be the wrong way, told the APA on Wednesday that his ministry was working on a strategy for the " Living with the Virus would work ”. Also, no decision will be made until April 2021 at the earliest whether vaccinated people should receive privileges or not. And then the already familiar word was uttered again, "After Easter" one would look. But the green one did not say in what year.

The first EU states create facts

Agreement at EU level seems to be difficult. As mentioned: Germany is on the brakes and France has joined in good old tradition. It remains to be seen whether the other members can prevail. The issue could again put the EU to the test, because there is great dissatisfaction among the population about the messed up vaccination orders. In pretty much all of Europe the patience of people with constant lockdowns with no strategy to face is at the end of the line.

More and more countries are joining the initiative by Greece to make travel easier for immunized persons. So it cannot be ruled out that the German politicians could lose out this time. Scandinavian countries are already creating facts at home, because in Finland, Denmark and Sweden an electronic vaccination certificate is to be required in future to visit restaurants and cultural and sports facilities. Such an idea is now being discussed even in France. In Austria there is a lot of thought that the gastronomy will be reopened, but only for people who can present a negative test result.