Poland plans to link up to the European Commission’s ‘COVID-19 passport’ system on May 20, the country’s health minister, Adam Niedzielski announced on Monday.

The system aims to make travel easier and safer, and to give the economies of tourism-dependent nations a shot in the arm. The passports should allow EU citizens to travel in the block without hindrance by providing proof of vaccination or a negative test.

“We had a declaration from the European Commission that we would start up on May 25, but we are speeding things up and expect to connect to the system proposed by the European Commission on May 20, that is, in a few days, Mr Niedzielski told commercial Radio Zet, referring to the testing of ‘COVID-19 passports’ in Poland,:

“I hope that after these initial tests, after May 20, we’ll have a better view of the situation,” he added. The minister also said that a relevant Commission regulation would have to appear before final decisions on the ‘COVID-19 passports’ were made in Poland.

“At some point, we will come to a situation that vaccinations will be looking for volunteers. Most likely this will happen in June” he added. He also reported that already 60,000 people have signed up among 16 and 17-year-olds. Registration for this age group started on Monday.

Mr Niedzielski emphasised that the government is trying to convince Poles to vaccinate and there is no discussion about making it mandatory.