Some problems apparently simply go away if you ignore them long enough. The green COVID-19 pass for the workplace is no longer urgent as the fifth wave the country is experiencing could end in a few weeks, Minister of Health Alexandru Rafila (PSD) told Digi24 last Friday. “I no longer see the urgency of the pass because any legislative initiative […] requires a time to implement, which means several weeks and I hope this fifth wave ends in a few weeks”, he said.

The introduction of the so-called green pass — more recently dubbed “electronic” pass — has divided the government and parliament for months, with different versions of the bill having gone back and forth between the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

The bill would have been the first legislative act to combat the corona pandemic. All COVID-19 measures to date have been introduced by the government using emergency ordinances (OUGs) as Romania has been in a prolonged “state of health emergency” since March 2020.