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EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
Photo: Xinhua / European Union / imago images
SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil attacks EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) in the dispute over the Corona vaccine procurement.
"The same applies to the EU as to Germany," Klingbeil told SPIEGEL.
“Vaccination is our way out of the crisis, it has to be a boss's business.
I'm really stunned by how carelessly Ursula von der Leyen has looked after the start of the vaccination over the past few months. "
The vaccinations against the corona virus are only running slowly in Europe.
The EU Commission is under pressure and recently suffered several setbacks.
Most recently, the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca informed Brussels that it would deliver only 31 million vaccine doses instead of 80 by the end of March.
A crisis talk between the EU and the group ended on Wednesday without a solution.
"With all the procurement chaos and the mistakes that have been made, the Commission President can no longer duck back," said Klingbeil.
“It brings back memories of your leadership style in the Defense Department.
Instead of backroom politics and a lack of transparency, we now need clarity on the part of the EU.
All the facts and contracts with the vaccine manufacturers must be on the table.
We cannot be satisfied that Europe is so lagging behind. "
The EU has been arguing with the British-Swedish manufacturer AstraZeneca since it announced the cut in delivery.
In Brussels, however, there are suspicions that bottlenecks in the supply of the European Union with the AstraZeneca vaccine could be due to the fact that the company supplies the UK and other non-EU countries with full quantities of the vaccine - possibly also from factories within the EU .
AstraZeneca denies that.
A crisis meeting between representatives of the EU and the company on Wednesday evening ended without having found a solution to the problem.
Because of the problems with the vaccination campaign, calls for a national vaccination summit are increasing.
Several SPD minister presidents, Chancellor Angela Merkel and Health Minister Jens Spahn are in favor of such a meeting.
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