As of Thursday, permanent residents of Israel will be able to travel to Greece if they are vaccinated against COVID-19 and hold a vaccination certificate.
EU countries have agreed on an EU Green Pass, an EU-wide health passport but it is not certain when it will be practically available.
In an effort to boost tourism and save the summer, Greece, a strong advocate of a vaccination certificate, has decided to speed up the procedures and made a bilateral deal with Tel Aviv.
According to the agreement, Israelis will be able to travel to Greece with a vaccination certificate (in English) which will be considered valid 14 days after the completion of their vaccination.
Passengers will also need to hold a negative PCR test and if both conditions are met they will not be obliged to be in a seven-day quarantine currently in place for passengers coming from abroad.
EU leaders reaffirmed yesterday at a teleconference to continue their work on an EU-wide health passport and have it ready before summer.
However, diplomatic sources have told EURACTIV that the technical part of such a project poses severe challenges and it’s highly likely that it won’t be ready before July.
