So the E.U. fiddled with red-tape while the U.K. got on with obtaining vaccines - a critical Brexit test passed! But what's this about France wanting to cut our electric off?
27 Jan 2021
Jeff Taylor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCIT9XIzO4c
The EU, the UK and vaccine nationalism! The EU is not happy with ASstraZeneca! (4k)
The snail's pace delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to the people has become a red-hot political issue in the E.U., while Brexit U.K. gets on with the task of obtaining vaccine supplies and jabbing arms.
And whatever your personal views on vaccines, this has turned into a philosophical battle between the concepts of the nation-state and a centralised power.
And it seems that the sovereign once more U.K. is winning through.
The E.U. insisted that its member states stop their vaccine plans and leave it all to the Brussels. The Eurocrats then faffed about and came late to the table, getting roundly criticised in the process. And the whole E.U. looks on as Brexit U.K. gets on with the job.
So, it seems that the E.U. is now casting about for someone to blame and is calling dirty tricks by the U.K. and the vaccine company AstraZeneca.
So, what are the issues behind all of this?
Well, it all hinges on two vaccines and their makers.
The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine produced in Belgium, and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in the U.K. in Keele and Oxford and is also gearing up for production in the E.U.
And because the U.K. took an early punt across the board and invested £100 million in a vaccine plant, it could get the vaccination process running very quickly.
But it seems that production in the E.U. is experiencing difficulties, meaning their vaccination programme will be slowed down.
And that, of course, has alarmed Brussels, who will not want to be seen as failing where Brexit U.K. is succeeding.
But the wheels had already been coming off of the E.U. inoculation programme, with Germany feeling forced to try and by-pass the E.U. system to snap up doses from elsewhere.
And Hungary went to Russia and bought a million doses of the Sputnik vaccine.
Not only that, right at the start when Germany, the Netherlands, France and Italy got together in the 'Inclusive Vaccine Alliance', the E.U. stepped in and said no - Brussels runs the show, not you.
Now, the E.U., already having been hit by Pfizer production problems was then told by AstraZeneca that their supplies to the E.U. would be 60% short at 31 million doses instead of 80 million.
Sending the E.U. Commission into meltdown. And they've hauled the bosses of AstraZeneca across the coals insisting that their contract be properly fulfilled.
And the latest is that the E.U. has demanded that the company divert vaccines away from the U.K. and into the E.U.
The E.U. Commission has also ordered vaccine companies within the E.U. to notify them before they export vaccines out of the bloc.
And the E.U. Health Commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, raised the stakes by talking about an export transparency programme and saying that the explanations made by AstraZeneca about the shortages were 'unacceptable' and that:
"The European Union will take any action required to protect its citizens and rights."
While the German Health Minister Jens Spahn said:
"This is not about E.U. first, this is about Europe's fair share."
And EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said:
"Europe invested billions to help develop the world's first Covid-19 vaccines. And now, the companies must deliver. They must honour their obligations."
And that would have repercussions. As the former health secretary, Jeremy Hunt told the Telegraph.
But in a series of Tweets covering these events, ITV's Robert Peston says that AstraZeneca disputes the claim on pricing and says that its contracts for these new vaccines are based on the concept of 'best efforts' not concrete promises of exact delivery.
Peston also says in one Tweet:
"A pro-EU source at the company says "I understand Brexit better now"."
And now we hear that the French are so exercised over the UK regaining control of its fishing grounds that it wants to disconnect our electricity supply.
Well, at least the plan appears to put pressure on the France to Jersey electricity interconnectors.
The French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, told French broadcaster France 3 Bretagne that if the UK refused to change the Brexit trade deal to allow French boats continued access to UK waters after 2026, then France would say:
"If you bother us on fishing, we'll bother you on energy."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCIT9XIzO4c
