Negotiated too badly, ordered too little and too late.
The EU is in a vaccination disaster.
But the head of the commission does not see any mistakes - at least not in herself.
Munich - Some sentences age particularly badly.
“This is Europe's moment,” tweeted Ursula von der Leyen in mid-December and meant it as pathetically as it sounded.
The head of the Brussels Commission apparently wanted to make the EU-wide vaccination start after Christmas fit for the history books.
That could have worked - but differently than she wanted it to.
Because the EU's vaccination strategy threatens to become a story of failure.
While Israel, the USA or Great Britain vaccinate their citizens in no time, the EU states lag far behind.
The longer it goes on, the louder the criticism becomes.
Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder accused commission representatives on Monday of glossing over mistakes.
Jean-Claude Juncker, himself a long-time commissioner, previously criticized the vaccine procurement: "It was all too slow, everything should have been more transparent."
The Brussels machinery is big, the responsibilities are widely distributed.
The head of the commission bears the political responsibility for the poor performance.
The pressure on them is growing.
Instead of practicing self-criticism, von der Leyen argues away the false start with little virtuosity.
Twelve million out of 450 million EU citizens have already been vaccinated, she said on ZDF on Sunday - "an impressive number".
The UK, which left the EU, had already vaccinated nine of the 67 million inhabitants.
Coronavirus: Ursula von der Leyen in the vaccination misery - after the first success, it got bumpy
Von der Leyen is sticking to her line: 70 percent of adults should be vaccinated by the end of summer.
That is not impossible, especially since the head of the commission is renegotiating with the manufacturers and further vaccines are hoping for EU approval.
But it doesn't cover up past mistakes.
Von der Leyen was initially able to record a success by swearing the 27 EU countries to a common vaccination strategy in June.
But after that it got bumpy.
While others simply took money into their hands and ordered, Brussels haggled forever with the manufacturers - and then ordered too little vaccine too late.
In addition, there is the accusation that the contracts contained overly soft clauses that do not pin down the producers to binding delivery quantities and times.
The British company Astrazeneca, for example, justified the reduction in the delivery volume to the EU - 31 instead of 80 million vaccine doses by the end of March.
The Commission states, however, that Astrazeneca has promised fixed quantities at fixed times.
Corona vaccination panic in Brussels?
Von der Leyen violates "rule number one"
In Brussels, panic seems to be spreading in view of the many construction sites.
This was clearly visible on Friday.
After Astrazeneca made the delivery bottlenecks public, the EU Commission reacted with tightened export controls for vaccines.
This should prevent Astrazeneca from continuing to supply third countries such as Great Britain via the EU.
Briefly it was in the room that Brussels activated a safeguard clause in the Brexit Treaty, which allows controls between the EU country Ireland and the British Northern Ireland.
A highly sensitive topic.
Because on the island there are fears that controls could lead to violence again on the Irish-Northern Irish border.
The Brexit negotiators' years of efforts to prevent precisely that would have been in vain.
Northern Ireland Prime Minister Arlene Foster spoke of an "incredibly hostile act" by the EU.
The EU backed out, but the damage to its image remains.
The blame?
Von der Leyen sees how other people get vaccines.
Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis is responsible for export controls, she said through her commission spokesman.
The echo followed promptly.
Finland's ex-Prime Minister Alexander Stubb tweeted: "Rule number one for every leader: If your organization messes up, never publicly blame your team." Von der Leyen's spokesman recently emphasized that one believes to be "exactly on the right line" .
And anyway: Only the Pope is infallible.
Markus Mäckler
