Brussels Edition: Traveling in Different Directions

Welcome to the Brussels Edition, Bloomberg’s daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union.

European governments will soon be handing out travel certificates to the fully vaccinated, but they may not be the golden ticket to the beaches many were hoping for as the delta variant spreads. Portugal, which a few months ago was one of the few designated safe spots, has seen its tourism industry dealt a hammer blow by the U.K. and Germany, with both those countries now mandating quarantines for visitors returning home. Further complicating the summer season and risking another divide between the sun-seeking northerners and the tourist-dependent south, not all EU leaders agree on which vaccines count. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week scolded Greece for welcoming travelers with Sputnik and Sinopharm shots, vaccines not authorized by the EU’s drug regulator. And if any reminder were needed of the ever-present risk of contracting Covid, Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel tested positive for the virus, just days after rubbing shoulders with his EU peers in Brussels.