Vaccines, setback for the EU in Northern Ireland: no controls – Last minute

01/30/2021 Italy



[ad_1]

(ANSA) – ROME, JANUARY 30 – The EU backs down on the decision to impose controls on anti-Covid vaccines produced on the continent and aimed at Northern Ireland: the European Commission “will not activate the safeguard clause,” the statement read in a statement from Brussels.

“To address the current lack of transparency in exports of vaccines outside the EU,” the note recalled, “the Commission is implementing a measure that requires these exports to be subject to authorization by member states. If this measure is terminated, Brussels explains, the Commission will ensure that the Ireland-Northern Ireland protocol is not modified: the Commission does not activate the safeguard clause. “

“If the transit of vaccines and active substances to third countries is abused to circumvent the effects of the authorization system,” warns Brussels, “the EU will evaluate the use of all the tools at its disposal. In the process of finalizing the document, the La The Commission will also fine-tune the decision-making process under the implementing regulation. The final version of the implementing regulation – the press release concludes – will be published tomorrow (today, ed.) After its adoption. “

Last night, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, precisely to express “his grave concern about the potential impact that the measures taken by the EU could have on the export of vaccines”, with the unilateral imposition of controls not foreseen by Brexit at the borders of Ulster. Local Belfast Prime Minister Arlene Foster called Brussels’s decision an “incredibly aggressive and hostile move.” In a message posted on her Twitter account, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, speaks of “constructive conversations” with Johnson: “We agreed on the principle that there should be no restrictions on the export of vaccines from companies that are fulfilling contractual responsibilities “. Von der Leyen.

(ANSA).

REPRODUCTION RESERVED © Copyright ANSA