- France and Germany are in talks to reform the World Health Organization as the US seeks to dictate terms, Reuters reported.
- The G7 Alliance is currently drafting a reform document that will eventually be voted on by the G20 and UN.
- The US is set to leave the WHO in July 2021, after Donald Trump slaughtered the WHO for pandemic to China during the pandemic.
- The German and French health ministries say it is wrong for the US to lead the talks.
- “Nobody wants to be dragged into a reform process and get an overview of a country that even just left the WHO,” a senior European official told Reuters.
- Visit the Business Insider website for more stories.
France and Germany have shut down a project to reform the World Health Organization as the US seeks control, Reuters reported.
Members of the G7 alliance have spent weeks drafting a reform document that will eventually have to be approved by the G20 and the UN to take effect.
The WHO has come under fire in recent months – mostly focused on Donald Trump – for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump accused the WHO of helping China “deceive the world” at the start of the pandemic, which began in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
But the US, which last month said it would leave the WHO in July 2021, is trying to dictate terms, according to several European officials who spoke to Reuters.
The American blueprint is too extreme for France and Germany and the countries’ health ministries told Reuters that it was wrong for the US to lead the talks.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus seen in April 2020.
Fabrice COFFRINI / Getty Images
The substance of the US-led proposal is unknown. However, one European official involved in the negotiations told Reuters that it was ‘rough’.
“Nobody wants to be dragged into a reform process and get an overview of it from a country that even just left the WHO,” one senior European official involved in the talks told Reuters.
However, the US is not alone in criticizing the WHO.
“Everyone has been critical of Tedros,” one negotiator from a European G7 country told Reuters, referring to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
A Trump administration official told Reuters that “it is unfortunate that Germany and France have finally chosen not to join the group in supporting the roadmap.”
