Covid passes set to stay as Europe heads for winter

The Dutch Coronacheck app is not checked everywhere, the BBC's Anna Holligan has found

There have been protests and complaints of restricted freedom, but much of Europe is now using Covid passports to enter bars, restaurants, cinemas and museums.

Italy also requires a Covid pass to enter a workplace and Austria is about to follow suit.

Although England does not require a pass, from Friday, the UK's digital Covid pass will be accepted across the European Union.

Our correspondents around Europe have been getting to grips with the rules.

Italy has adopted arguably the most rigid Covid pass rules in Europe, writes Mark Lowen in Rome. The Green Pass QR code - from at least one Covid vaccination, negative test or proof of recovery - has to be shown for everything from indoor restaurants to cinemas, gyms and intercity trains. It is also required by all employees in the public and private sectors when they turn up for work. Passes are checked regularly and my family, visiting from the UK, were amazed how rigidly Covid rules, including masks, are respected here.

In France it is surprising how quickly the passe sanitaire has become part of daily life, writes Hugh Schofield in Paris. Few think twice now before presenting their mobile phones at bars, cinemas and museums, or on TGV trains and at airports. It is a normalised ritual.

Hugh Schofield showing his pass in France

It's a different story in the Netherlands, writes Anna Holligan. In all the beach bars, restaurants and city cafes I've visited since the pass was introduced on 25 September, I have not once been asked to flash my pass, although I have been asked at the cinema. The rules state anyone aged 13 and over has to show a Covid entry pass, although not for shops or taking part in sports events.

Denmark actually phased out its coronapas last month, writes Adrienne Murray in Copenhagen. It was first in Europe to adopt a pass in April but has now downgraded Covid-19 to a no longer "socially critical" disease.

In Germany, if you go out to eat or drink, it's good to know the latest Covid regulation lingo, writes Damien McGuinness in Berlin. Handmade signs with a large 2G have popped up on the doors of many restaurants, cafes and bars. 2G means only people who are either geimpft (vaccinated) or genesen (recovered) can go in. No sign means the usual 3G rule applies, which includes negative tests too.

Austrians have used 3G certificates for months, writes Bethany Bell in Vienna. A friend and I went recently to one of my favourite restaurants in Vienna, which serves excellent Wiener Schnitzel and apple strudel. "You have your Green Passes, I suppose?" asked the waiter suspiciously. He glanced briefly at our digital certificates, then handed over the menus. Some establishments check on the passes very strictly, others don't even bother to ask.

In Switzerland, Covid passes are obligatory and the rules strictly applied, says Imogen Foulkes in Bern. And now that Covid tests aren't free anymore, going out for a beer gets pretty expensive. The vaccination rate is stagnating at around 62% and the government wants more people to get the jab.

HOW POPULAR ARE THEY?

Anna Holligan: After some early consternation, the majority of pragmatic Dutch accepted the pass as a means of resurrecting their social lives while shrugging off social distancing. When I've asked waiters or box-office workers if they want to see the QR code proving my vaccination the answers vary from "no, it's okay, we trust you" to "we don't actually have the technology". A recent study by I&O Research found around a third of cafes and restaurants in the Netherlands were not scanning the coronapasses.

Adrienne Murray: Danes are tech-savvy and accepted the app quickly as it offered a quick path out of lockdown. But because the coronapas came in well before people were double-vaccinated it required regular testing. Free test centres sprung up in neighbourhoods all over Copenhagen and towns elsewhere. These have mostly closed now that 75% of over-12s are fully vaccinated and a third booster is being rolled out.

Guy Delauney says lip-service is often paid to the Covid passes in Balkan countries

Guy Delauney, Balkans correspondent: I've detected little enthusiasm for the passes, travelling through Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and North Macedonia. While one restaurant on the main square in the Macedonian capital Skopje barred entry to people without passes, another had no checks at all. Staff complain of abuse, so a sign or a sticker on a table often acts as a fig leaf for official policies.

HAS THERE BEEN A BACKLASH?

Mark Lowen: There's a stereotype of Italians as a nation not minded to follow rules - but by being hit first in Europe, the pandemic seems to have changed that, and Italy's "no-vax" movement is relatively small.

Dockers in Trieste have been among the most vocal protesters against having the Covid pass compulsory at work

There have been some protests. Crowds stormed and smashed up a trade union building and then anti-Green Pass workers staged sit-ins and protests in Trieste, blockading the country's most important commercial port. Police broke them up with tear gas and water cannon.

Imogen Foulkes: Opponents of the Swiss pass complain the strict policies undermine their constitutional freedoms. There are demonstrations every week, some of which have turned violent. Enough signatures have been gathered to call a referendum on 28 November to abolish the passes. If the Swiss do vote to get rid of them, it could make travel in Europe problematic - as the Swiss pass is recognised across Europe's passport-free Schengen area.

Hugh Schofield: Of course there are people in France who object on principle to having to prove their credentials at every turn. Every Saturday there are demonstrations in Paris and other cities, bringing together anti-vaxxers with libertarians and protesters against "health discrimination". Contrary to what some expected, though, these have not turned into a mass movement, and are dwindling in strength.

Anna Holligan: There have been a few challenges in the Netherlands: one failed lawsuit argued the pass was discriminatory because it treated unvaccinated people differently without good reason. Supermodel Doutzen Kroes announced on Instagram that she would not be "forced to take the shot" or "forced to prove my health to participate in society". But opposition to the pass in the Netherlands appears to be more a matter of principle than practicality.

Bethany Bell: While many Austrians welcomed the passes as a step towards more freedoms, the opposition far-right Freedom Party has championed those who disagree with the measures. Its head, Herbert Kickl, has accused the government of splitting society into "the good vaccinated and the bad unvaccinated".

Guy Delauney: There have been protests in Slovenia's capital every Wednesday in recent weeks and some have involved violent confrontations with the police, who have used teargas and water cannon to clear the crowds.

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