Introduction

Global mobility is no stranger to change. But even for this industry, the pace became relentless as soon as the world locked down against COVID-19. With vaccine roll out intensifying, the hard-thinking shifts to the safe reopening of borders and the resumption of cross-border working. The challenge of mass-testing and the issue of equitable vaccine distribution line the road ahead.

As part of their broader common path, the EU’s Digital Green Certificate aims to reopen free movement in the EU. Formed of three separate certificates – vaccine, test and recovery – the lucky owner should see travel restrictions fall away across the EU. The objective is “a sustainable and safe re-opening of our societies and economies.” The intention is to have a system developed and implemented by Member States before the summer.

In partnership with the GLOMO project, the RES Forum put some questions to Monika Mosshammer, Deputy Head of her unit in the EU’s citizenship rights and free movement directorate, about vaccine distribution strategy and how the Digital Green Certificate will help open borders. We’ve included the unabridged questions and answers below.

A note on the GLOMO project

GLOMO is an international research project, looking at global labour mobility. Funded by the EU, they’re investigating the pandemic’s effect on mobility, while understanding what impact the EU’s common path will have on cross-border working.

The 14-strong team of early-stage researchers (ESRs) are reviewing corporate practice around mobility, while exploring the impact of vaccine distribution equity on a sector that’s heavily affected by the pandemic.

The RES Forum, a key partner of the GLOMO project, is pivotal in connecting the ESRs to senior corporate leaders, as well as calling on their worldwide expert network and their own (not insubstantial) experience to help advance the project.

Alongside their work on the GLOMO project, The RES Forum produced a series of research that examined the pandemic’s impact on global mobility. This research compliments a suite of tools that help corporate mobility keep pace with changes to the industry and help the industry keep pace with the needs of corporate mobility.

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