EU’S ‘NAKED HOSTILITY’ Eurocrats under fire as they push ahead with bid to block jab exports – which could hit our Pfizer supply
The european Union last night unveiled astonishing plans that could stop millions of vaccine doses from reaching the UK.
Brussels confirmed that Britain would be on the list of countries hit by stringent export controls.
Its draft law includes powers to decide which jabs leave the 27-member bloc – potentially affecting supplies of the Pfizer vaccine made in Belgium.
The european Commission will force companies to notify national authorities in advance of the amounts and destination of any vaccine shipments.
If the firms have not already delivered a sufficient number of doses to eU members, they could be blocked from shipping jabs abroad. The eC yesterday published a list of 92 countries exempt from the proposed ban, including Libya, Belarus and Syria – but not Britain.
In another dramatic move, the Commission attempted to impose a hard Irish border to further restrict British access to Pfizer shipments. The decision to invoke Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol was described by First Minister Arlene Foster as an ‘incredible act of hostility’ – with Brussels shamed into abandoning the plan hours later.
The eU’s vaccination programme has shuddered to a halt in some countries amid supply issues. The bloc wants AstraZeneca to send over doses of its Oxford jab made in Britain to make up for the shortfall caused by the firm’s production problems in Belgium.
AstraZeneca has said it cannot send more doses to the eU because it has promised to prioritise its deal with the UK – struck three months earlier than the one signed by Brussels.
Yesterday both sides revealed the contract covering the Oxford vaccine. eC president Ursula von der Leyen said: ‘There are binding orders and the contract is crystal-clear. AstraZeneca has expressly assured us in this contract that no other obligations will stand in the way of fulfilling the contract.’ however, lawyers said the company may be protected by a clause that limits its liability to making its ‘ best efforts’ to fulfil the contract.
Didier Reynders, the eC’s justice commissioner, said yesterday: ‘Our goal is now that all european countries receive, at the same time, vaccines in proportion to their population.
‘Transparency is needed, not a vaccine war. Maybe Britain wants to start a vaccine war.’
Croatian prime minister Andrej Plenkovic also hit out at the UK, saying: ‘What we are witnessing is vaccine hijacking. Some countries didn’t have a united approach like we in the eU and have obviously offered more money for vaccine doses.’
however, former Swedish PM Carl Bildt criticised Brussels, tweeting: ‘I had hoped not to see the eU leading the world down the destructive path of vaccine nationalism.’
Under the new law, the european Commission will have up to 48 hours to decide whether vaccine exports can be approved. It raises the prospect of long delays before jabs reach Britain, if at all. eC vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis said: ‘We paid these companies to increase production and now we expect them to deliver.’
The new rules will come into effect today and run until the end of March. Other non-eU nations affected by the restrictions include the United States, Canada and Australia.
Brussels health commissioner Stella Kyriakides denied pursuing a Trump-style ‘europe first’ policy. ‘We are not protecting ourselves against any specific country,’ she said. ‘And we’re not in competition or in a race against any country.
German MeP Gunnar Beck accused the eU of ‘desperately trying to cover its own shoddy mismanagement’ of its vaccine scheme, adding: ‘eurocrats have never quite given up on the idea of punishing Brexit Britain.’
‘Punishing Brexit Britain’