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The Chancellor supports the desire for more vaccine export controls and wants to clarify the debate on the distribution of vaccines in the EU. When fighting the pandemic, the motto “whatever it takes” should be applied.
Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) has before the start of the virtual I–Summit He stressed this Thursday that the main theme of the heads of State and Government will be the fight against the pandemic. “If the distribution of vaccines is not going to be a topic for a summit, then what?” Declared the chancellor. It is also completely incomprehensible that the EU exports 70 million doses of corona vaccines to all parts of the world and has not received any vaccines from outside the EU.
“That’s a huge disparity,” Kurz said. Therefore, he supported the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in her aim to counter this and defend export controls. However, the Chancellor stressed that he could not anticipate the outcome of the summit.
“Whatever it takes”
In the fight against the pandemic, the motto “whatever you want” should be applied, Kurz emphasized. The argument that there is a financial restriction of 200 million euros for the purchase of vaccines in Austria is therefore “absurd”. So far, 80 million euros have been spent and 30 million cans have been ordered, the problem lies in the delay in deliveries, Kurz said.
In any case, Austria has made progress on the issue of vaccine distribution, Kurz continued. The heads of state and government had agreed that vaccines would be delivered proportionally according to the distribution of the population, but this was changed by a decision of health officials, so that Malta would now receive three times more vaccines than Bulgaria in the first semester. of the year. But he believes that there is now more understanding for a balance within the EU.
USA, Turkey: foreign policy is a problem too
He is also very happy that there is an exchange today with the President of the United States, Joe Biden, said Kurz. “I am firmly convinced that we as Europeans need strong transatlantic relations” to be able to tackle many important issues together, such as free trade, Kurz explained. Regarding the relationship with Turkey, Kurz said he was happy that the situation with the EU states Greece and Cyprus has eased. At the same time, however, he was of the view that the human rights situation in Turkey was a major cause for concern, such as the recent withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention and the planned ban on the opposition party HDP.
The EU video summit on vaccine shortages and relations with Turkey started at noon. First, there was an exchange with the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli. The main theme of the summit is the acceleration of the production and delivery of previously scarce corona vaccines. Furthermore, the EU heads of state and government wanted to discuss the complicated relationship with Turkey.
In the evening, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, wanted to join an exchange on occasion. The summit is scheduled for two days, but before it was not ruled out that it could be passed in one day. The face-to-face meeting originally planned in Brussels had been canceled due to the pandemic.
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