Brussels remembers AstraZeneca fondly.
The European Commission announced this Thursday that it will activate a contractual procedure to resolve the conflict with the Swedish-British laboratory, whose deliveries of anti-Covid vaccines are significantly lower than the figures initially planned.
"We intend to send a letter to AstraZeneca, a letter that will allow us to engage in dialogue with the company as part of a dispute resolution process," said a spokesperson for the European executive in Brussels.
This letter is in preparation and we will of course be consulting the Member States in order to be able to send it quickly to the company.
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This procedure is provided for in the vaccine supply contracts concluded by the European Union.
Each party has the option of sending a letter to the other party inviting them to participate in a dispute resolution procedure that will take place 20 days later between the executive leaders of the European Commission and the company, said a another spokesperson.
A dialogue expected "on a basis of good faith"
"The goal is to arrive at a resolution of the conflict on a good faith basis to ensure that the conflict can be resolved in a satisfactory way for everyone", explains the same spokesperson.
The AstraZeneca laboratory is due to deliver 70 million doses of its anti-Covid vaccine in the second quarter - the use of which is currently suspended by several countries.
This is significantly less than the 180 million doses promised in the contract signed with the European Union.
In the first quarter, the EU should have received a total of some 30 million doses of AstraZeneca, against 90 million initially planned by this Swedish-British pharmaceutical group.