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Corona vaccine from the US manufacturer Moderna
Photo: Marijan Murat / dpa
The EU should not only order corona vaccines together, but also pay for them from their budget - this is what Franziska Brantner, Member of the Greens, demands.
"This would ensure that all countries can get enough vaccines, which means we are all better protected in Europe," Brantner told SPIEGEL.
The federal government obviously does not want to know anything about it.
In response to a written question from Brantner on whether EU-ordered vaccines should be affordable for all Member States, the Ministry of Health replied that EU countries could also obtain loans from the European Investment Bank.
"But that doesn't help countries that are already over-indebted," says Brantner.
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Green politician Franziska Brantner
Photo: Christian Spicker / imago images / Christian Spicker
The EU's vaccine strategy should send a sign of solidarity: Instead of tough competition between large and small countries, the EU Commission orders corona vaccines for all countries together.
However, it only concludes purchase guarantees with the manufacturers and pays a deposit for them.
The member countries then have to decide for themselves how much vaccine to buy from which manufacturer.
You also have to pay yourself.
As a result, warns Brantner, poorer EU countries threatened to come under pressure.
In addition, the negotiators have had to take into account the objections of some countries for which some vaccines were too expensive, according to EU circles.
The EU is saving "at the wrong end", criticizes Brantner.
Therefore it makes sense to pay for the vaccines from the EU budget.
Ordered vaccines for 15 billion euros
The money for the down payments comes from the EU emergency aid instrument ESI.
According to the Commission, initially 2.1 billion euros were available.
The pot was recently increased by 750 million euros on the initiative of Germany and the Commission.
Compared to the cost of buying the vaccines, these are comparatively small amounts.
So far the EU has firmly ordered around 1.7 billion vaccine doses from various manufacturers.
They alone cost almost 15 billion euros, according to a confidential price table that a Belgian State Secretary accidentally tweeted recently.
In addition, the EU has secured options for 760 million more cans, the purchase of which would cost around 4.6 billion euros.
The EU financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027 has a volume of 1,074 billion euros, with a budget of 166 billion euros for the coming year.
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