Juncker: Stop waging a war

FORMER EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker urged the bloc to step back from waging a “stupid vaccine war” on Britain as leaders held a crunch virtual summit last night.

The ex-European Commission President warned that threatening export bans could cause “major reputational damage”.

His outburst came as EU leaders held talks on tightening restrictions on supplies of jabs, amid divisions over whether to take a tougher line on sending doses of Oxford/ AstraZeneca outside the Continent, including to the UK.

Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden and Denmark were said to have reservations. One EU diplomat warned: “If we need to have this because one supplier is not delivering then I hope this is a stick which does not have to be used, it might turn out to be lose-lose.”

Mr Juncker told the BBC: “We have to pull back from this war. I think that there is room for dialogue on both sides of the Channel. Nobody in Britain, nobody in Europe understands why we are witnessing such a stupid vaccine war.”

Calling for “intense dialogue”, he added: “We are not in war, and we are not enemies – we are allies.”

He spoke out after London and Brussels moved to ease tensions following weeks of growing anger.

A joint statement said they were seeking a “win-win” deal to increase supplies across the UK and EU.

Before last night’s summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the Bundestag: “British sites are manufacturing for Britain, and the US is not exporting. So we are reliant on what we can make in Europe.”

Voicing frustration, French President Emmanuel Macron admitted: “We didn’t shoot for the stars – that should be a lesson.”

Meanwhile, India has not imposed a ban on vaccine exports and will continue to supply them in a phased manner, a government source said.