EU moves to control vaccine exports
Measures spark trade-war fears on eve of summit
The European Union moved yesterday towards stricter export controls for coronavirus vaccines, seeking to make sure its 27 nations have more Covid-19 shots to boost the bloc's flagging vaccine campaign amid a surge in new infections.
The EU'S Executive Commission said, on the eve of a summit of the EU'S leaders, it has a plan to guarantee more vaccines produced in the bloc are available for its 450 million citizens even if that comes at the cost of helping nations outside the bloc, most notably Britain.
EU officials said trade with the US should not be affected and assured nations that sought to have an open, transparent relationship with the bloc they had little to fear.
The EU move is expected to be a blow to Britain, whose speedy vaccination rollout has been eyed with envy by many EU nations, especially since it came as the UK formally completed its Brexit divorce from the bloc. The latest figures show that 45 per cent of Britons have had at least one vaccine shot, compared to less than 14 per cent for the bloc.
“I mention specifically the UK,” EU Commission Vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis said.
Since the end of January, “some 10 million doses have been exported from the EU to the UK and zero doses have been exported from UK to the EU”.
“So it's clear that we also need to look at those aspects of reciprocity and proportionality,” he said.
In the post-brexit era, both sides have been fighting over everything from diplomatic representation to border controls and red tape, but they did not want to take the same confrontational tone over live-saving vaccines, especially when the World Health Organisation is raising alarms over rising new infections across Europe. Only hours after the commission move, the EU and the UK said in a joint statement that “we are all facing the same pandemic and the third wave makes cooperation between the EU and the UK even more important”.
“In the end, openness and global cooperation of all countries will be key to finally overcome this pandemic and ensure better preparation for meeting future challenges”.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said global cooperation over vaccines has been the EU standard. The bloc has approved sending 41 million vaccine doses to 33 countries in the past seven weeks and believes it stands at the forefront of international vaccinesharing efforts.
Some EU member states gearing up for today’s virtual summit were fearful, however, that too tough an export stance could amount to a de facto export ban that undermines the EU'S reputation as an open trading bloc.
Under a less stringent export control system in force so far, only one vaccine shipment in 381 has been barred. That was heading to Australia, which has a limited outbreak compared to the third surge of infections now facing many EU nations.
Canada also gets vaccines from Europe and has received assurances of supply.
The EU has been feuding with Astrazeneca for months.
Several vaccine producers, including Pfizer/biontech and Astrazeneca, were hit by production delays over winter, as worldwide demands for vaccines soared. Astrazeneca has been producing less than half the doses the EU was counting on. —AP