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The background to this is the dispute between the EU Commission and the British-Swedish vaccine manufacturer Astra Zeneca over their delivery problems. The company had justified delays because there were problems at the plants in the Netherlands and Belgium.
However, production for Great Britain is not affected because London had ensured that production in its own country would initially only benefit its own vaccination program, Astra-Zeneca managing director Pascal Soriot said. This also caused outrage because the British have been receiving vaccines from Pfizer and Biontech made in Europe for months. Later, the EU introduced a control mechanism for the export of the preparations.
Emergency mechanism considered
The fact that Brussels was considering activating an emergency Brexit mechanism in a document released on Friday night caused irritation. This should also allow control of exports from EU member Ireland to the British province of Northern Ireland. But the move came under strong criticism, not just from London and Belfast, but also from Dublin.
Northern Ireland Prime Minister Arlene Foster accused the EU of creating a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, as the Northern Ireland Protocol was supposed to avoid. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke of “serious concern” and spoke to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
In front of the British radio station BBC 4 Foster also said on Saturday that he considers the Brexit deal regulations on Northern Ireland to be “unworkable” and wants to work with Prime Minister Johnson and the Dublin government to abolish the Northern Ireland Protocol. It leads to considerable tension in the British part of the country, Foster said.
For years, negotiators in the Brexit talks had struggled over how to avoid checks at the Irish internal border so as not to jeopardize the fragile peace in the region from the old civil war. Hours later, Brussels relented.
