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The European Union refined its rules on the export of Covid-19 vaccines on Wednesday, giving it a clearer right to block shipments to countries like Britain with higher inoculation rates and those that do not export their own doses of vaccine.
The move risks stoking post-Brexit tensions with London, which warned Brussels against “vaccine nationalism.”
EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis told a press conference that the export authorization mechanism was not targeted at any specific country.
The European Commission, which oversees the trade policy of the 27 EU members, put forward a proposal that expands existing measures that seek to ensure that planned exports by drug manufacturers do not threaten the already reduced supply from the EU.
Export licensing will be based on reciprocity and “proportionality”: the epidemiological situation, the vaccination rate, and access to vaccines in the destination country.
EU officials say export restrictions could also go into effect if companies honor quarterly contracts but delay supplies at the end of the period.
Dombrovskis said the new rules do not create a detailed algorithm on authorizations and that requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
The plan will also expand the network to include 17 neighboring countries, including Israel, Norway and Switzerland. Previously exempt, exports to these countries will also require authorization.
Third alarming wave
The proposal will be a topic of discussion Thursday at an online summit of EU leaders, whose countries are struggling with a third wave of infections that has led to tougher lockdowns amid a slow rollout of vaccines.
EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the situation in many EU countries was “alarming”, with an increase in cases in 19 EU members and an increase in deaths in eight.
While France, Germany and Italy generally support stricter restrictions on non-reciprocal exports, countries like the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland are more cautious in isolating Britain.
A French presidential adviser said the EU should not be some kind of “useful idiot” in the battle against the virus.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin said that any EU restriction on vaccine exports would be a “step backwards”.
A UK government spokesman said all countries were fighting the same pandemic and Britain would continue to work with European partners to implement the vaccine.
The Commission insists it is not an export ban and says that the priority systems established to vaccinate citizens in other countries are de facto bans, even if they are not called that.
The bloc said it had exported 43 million doses to 33 countries since the end of January, including 10.9 million to Britain. Some 380 export applications were granted and only one was blocked, from Italy to Australia.
So far, the EU has authorized four Covid-19 vaccines. AstraZeneca doses were supposed to be the vaccine for the masses, but deliveries have been and will be much lower than initially indicated.
EU countries have administered a dose to about 10 per cent of their adult population and have seen Britain provide at least one vaccine to more than half of all adults, with almost no delivery problems, despite that the same plants officially supply both.
The Commission proposal will enter into force unless a “qualified majority” of EU members oppose it, which is highly unlikely. –Reuters
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