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When EU states call for European solidarity, they generally want to assert their own national interests. When Austria’s Federal Chancellor Sebastian demanded vaccine solidarity from EU partners a month ago, it was no different. Kurz was publicly concerned about supply shortages from neighboring Austrian states. But at the same time, he claimed an above-average share for his own country of those 10 million doses of the Biontech and Pfizer vaccine that will be delivered out of sequence in the second quarter.
The dispute started by Kurz, which also determined the EU video summit a week ago, has now been resolved, through a solidarity campaign in which Vienna does not participate. The compromise that EU ambassadors in Brussels negotiated on Thursday gave Austria 199,000 cans out of the ten million lot, as much as the country is entitled to according to the usual key, the proportion of the population. Kurz called this a “solid result”, even if his government around the video summit had set a goal of doubling the delivery. The Czech Republic and Slovenia are also not participating in the compromise.
Bulgaria benefits the most
Another 19 countries under German leadership show solidarity. They are giving up a total of 2.85 million cans, which will benefit Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia, Latvia and Estonia. The remaining volume is divided among the 27 countries according to the population quota. Without the “joint correction”, Germany would have received 1,858 million of the ten million cans. Now there are 1.3 million. France receives 1,049 million cans instead of 1,499 million, and Italy receives 942,000 cans instead of 1,346 million.
Of the recipient countries, Bulgaria benefits the most with 1.15 million additional doses, followed by Croatia (680,000), Slovakia (600,000), Latvia (380,000) and Estonia (40,000). The dispute over the distribution of the Biontech / Pfizer vaccine stems from the fact that some member states have requested little of the particularly effective but also relatively expensive Biontech / Pfizer vaccine, mainly for cost reasons. Therefore, Germany and some other countries were able to order a higher than average amount. Austria has relied heavily on the relatively inexpensive but so far little available active ingredient in Astra-Zeneca, which is sometimes questioned due to its alleged side effects. Of course, it cannot be said that Austria as a whole has a below-average supply of vaccines.
Kurz has for some time mixed his call for solidarity with calls for more vaccines for his country. The letter that kicked off EU leaders, in which he and the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Estonia complained about uneven distribution of the vaccine in the EU a good two weeks ago, suggested that the signatories represent the worst. -countries served. According to an analysis by the Council of Ministers, Austria and Slovenia are not included, but the other four countries are, as well as Latvia and Slovakia.
The compromise proposal presented by the current Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU earlier in the week was to distribute seven of the ten million doses strictly according to the proportion of the population and to make another three available to the six countries in particular need. The compromise that has now been reached is almost in line with this, although Austria, Slovenia and the Czech Republic are excluded.
The Czech rejection of the proposal, which would have given Prague more doses of vaccination than according to the key population, is hardly understandable, unlike the failure of Vienna and Ljubljana. Apparently, the Czech government expects a reward from Austria. In any case, Kurz announced on Friday that his country would send 30,000 cans bilaterally to Prague in the spirit of European solidarity, and he was pleased that other countries were also willing to do so.
