The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Corona "vaccine war"? EU threatens Astrazeneca and Great Britain - but export stop could become a boomerang

2021-03-22T04:26:05.502Z


The EU is now hitting a harder tone when it comes to the corona vaccine. But an export stop could turn into a nasty boomerang.


The EU is now hitting a harder tone when it comes to the corona vaccine.

But an export stop could turn into a nasty boomerang.

Brussels - The EU continues to suffer from a huge shortage of corona vaccines.

Commission head Ursula von der Leyen has therefore now struck tougher notes and even brought an export ban into play.

This primarily means Astrazeneca.

But that could turn into a bad boomerang for the EU.

Ursula von der Leyen threatened further export restrictions at the weekend, especially against Astrazeneca and Great Britain.

In an interview with the

Funke media group

, she also rejected direct vaccine donations to poorer countries

.

The EU itself had already brought new export requirements into play on Wednesday.

She left the details open.

Corona vaccine dispute: EU threatens Astrazeneca and Great Britain

According to the information, at least 41 million doses of vaccine have been exported from the EU since February 1st.

Ten million went to Great Britain alone.

And this despite the fact that the doses are scarce in the EU itself.

"I can not explain to European citizens why we export millions of vaccine doses to countries that produce vaccine themselves


- and from which nothing comes back," said von der Leyen in the interview.

"We are open, but it has to be


proportionate and mutual."

Astrazeneca delivered just under 30 percent of the agreed quantities in the first quarter.

According to the contract, the EU must also get Astrazeneca cans from factories in Great Britain, which is becoming more and more of the vaccination primer.

However: "We did not get anything from the British while we were supplying them with vaccine," said von der Leyen.

Corona vaccine scandal: von der Leyen with tough announcement

The tough announcement: “We have the option of prohibiting a planned export.

That is the message to Astrazeneca: You first fulfill your contract with Europe before you start delivering to other countries. "

In the UK, these statements sparked outrage.

According to the

Financial Times

, Prime Minister Boris Johnson von der Leyen warned of a "vaccine war".

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace called on

Sky News

for collective action.

And the Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Manufacturers also turned

against an EU export ban

in the

Ärztezeitung

because this "could cause the entire logistics chain to stumble".

Corona vaccine: Export ban could become a boomerang for the EU

But an export stop could also turn into a boomerang.

The British Telegraph had previously reported that Biontech / Pfizer obtained important ingredients for production in the EU from Great Britain.

This was also confirmed by EU circles at the weekend.

In this respect, an export ban by the EU could, conversely, mean that less vaccine can also be produced within the EU.

Everyone would suffer as a result.

However, it was said from Brussels that the EU is not aiming at all to stop vaccine deliveries to the UK.

Rather, it is about reciprocity and proportionality.

Commissioner Mairead McGuinness told the

BBC

: "We supply vaccines to the UK, so I think this is all about openness and transparency."

Vaccines are a hot topic at the EU summit on Thursday and Friday.

However, due to the rapidly increasing number of infections in Europe, the meeting of the heads of state and government cannot take place in Brussels.

EU Council leader Charles Michel is planning a


video conference

instead

, as his spokesman announced on Sunday.

In Germany, the next steps in the pandemic will be discussed on Monday.

A draft resolution creates a stir in advance.

(dpa / rjs)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-03-22

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.