Great Britain and the European Union: The tone in the vaccination dispute is getting stronger

In the vaccination dispute, the current European Union representative has been summoned to the British Foreign Office. This may be due to a statement by European Union Council President Michel on a ban on British vaccine exports. Prime Minister Johnson has denied the allegations.

In the vaccine dispute with Brussels, Great Britain summoned the current representative of the European Union in London to protest the statements of Council Chairman Charles Michel. In diplomatic dealings, this is an acute form of protest. What came out of it remained open at first.

The occasion was a news release from Michelle who said: “The United Kingdom and the United States have imposed a complete ban on the export of vaccines or vaccine components made on their soil.”

In response to the first sharp criticism from London, Michael later wrote on Twitter that there are “different ways to enforce a ban or restriction on vaccines / medicines.”

References to an export ban are ‘completely wrong’

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “We haven’t even banned the export of a single vaccine for Covid-19.” Britain condemned “national vaccination in all its forms.”

The British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab had earlier responded with indignation to Michel’s comments in a letter: “All references to a British export ban or any restrictions on vaccines are completely wrong.” The Foreign Ministry in London said that since these false accusations were repeated at various levels of the European Union, the matter had been “discussed further” with the designated representative of Brussels.

Weber: Stop “educating the European Union”

Meanwhile, the leader of the Christian Democrats in the European Parliament, Manfred Weber, attacked the British Foreign Secretary. Vice Weber at CSU wrote on Twitter that Raab should stop teaching the European Union. Instead, it should reveal the amount of vaccines Britain has exported to Europe and elsewhere. In the past few months, eight million BioNTech / Pfizer vaccines have gone to Great Britain. “How many vaccinations have you sent to Europe?”

European Union: London has a ‘UK first’ policy

In fact, European Union representatives have been complaining for weeks that Corona vaccines are in fact only being exported to third countries on a large scale from the European Union. “Michel is politically correct, even if his choice of words is not very accurate,” said Peter Lyse, a member of the European Parliament for the Christian Democratic Union. Great Britain is pursuing a “UK first” policy with AstraZeneca’s “Oxford Vaccine”.

The company justifies the large delay in deliveries to the European Union specifically with this: “They say they have a ‘UK first’ contract, Liz said.“ Only when there is enough Britain is it ready to export. ”In fact, according to AstraZeneca’s director. Pascal Soriot, London stipulated in his contract that factories on British soil were initially only permitted to produce for the British market.

Lisi took more criticism: At least in January, the AstraZeneca vaccine moved from the European Union to Great Britain – not in small quantities that were packaged at a plant near Dessau in Germany. Johnson acts like Donald Trump. He should not be angry if you point it out.

Delivery problems in the European Union

The European Union is under mounting pressure from a slow vaccination campaign, blaming the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, among others, for failing to fulfill promised delivery volumes. AstraZeneca acknowledged the production problems in the European Union, but defended itself against the accusation that it was deliberately supplying Great Britain and other non-EU countries in unreduced quantities.

In the UK, about 35 percent of the population received the first vaccination, compared to only 9.5 percent in the European Union.