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The EU has admitted that the UK did not ban vaccine exports, as Boris Johnson took on Brussels by publicly “correcting” the President of the European Council for his claims about British policy.
The prime minister told MPs on Wednesday that Charles Michel, the chairman of the council and former prime minister of Belgium, had been wrong in alleging that the UK had imposed a ban on vaccine exports.
Johnson said: “We can also be proud of the support the UK has given to Covid’s international response, including the £ 548 million we have donated to Covax. I therefore wish to correct the suggestion by the President of the European Council that the United Kingdom has blocked exports of vaccines. Let me be clear, we have not blocked the export of a single Covid-19 vaccine or vaccine components.
“This pandemic has put us all on the same side in the battle for global health. We oppose vaccine nationalism in all its forms. I am confident that all parts of the house will join me in rejecting this suggestion and asking our partners to work together to address this pandemic. “
On Tuesday, Michel, who chairs summits of EU leaders and helps steer policy, sparked an angry backlash in Whitehall after stating in a bulletin that the UK had “imposed an outright ban on the export of vaccines or components. of vaccines produced in its territory “. .
When asked about the claims, on Wednesday, a spokesman for the European Commission confirmed that no such ban existed. He declined to comment directly on the claims made by Michel.
“We know that different countries have implemented different measures, that does not refer to vaccines, from what we understand, coming from the UK,” the spokesman said.
Nonetheless, officials pointed to the UK’s lack of vaccine exports compared to the EU as proof of the value of the European council president’s intervention. “We need some transparency on that,” said one.
In his controversial newsletter, Michel had tried to compare the EU’s export record with that of the UK and other countries, including the US, in response to suggestions that the bloc was on the brink of protectionism by banning an export. recent vaccine from Italy to Australia.
Two weeks ago, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, also suggested that Britain and the United States had blocked the export of Covid-19 vaccines. The EU has been trying to defend its export authorization mechanism, which forces companies to obtain approval, against accusations that it is damaging vaccine supply chains.
The UK has regulations to stop profiting from drugs and medical items such as masks, but does not impose a ban on vaccine components or full doses.
In a sign of the state of irritation in relations, Michel’s claim about a ban on British exports was denounced Tuesday by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab as “completely false.”
The EU ambassador, João Vale de Almeida, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but was in Brussels. Instead, the EU Charge d’Affaires in London, Nicole Mannion, the Irish deputy head of the Brussels delegation to the UK, was received on Wednesday morning by Sir Philip Barton, permanent undersecretary at the Foreign Office. Barton is understood to have conveyed the government’s irritation at the claims.
A UK government spokesperson said: “This morning a senior representative of the EU delegation to the UK was summoned to a meeting with [Barton] to discuss the issue of incorrect assertions in recent EU submissions. “
Michel tweeted on Tuesday evening: “I am pleased that the UK reaction leads to more transparency and increased exports to the EU and [other] countries. Different ways of imposing bans or restrictions on vaccines / medicines ”.
EU officials declined to comment further on Michel’s tweet.
While there is no UK export ban or authorization scheme, the government ensured that the doses of vaccine produced by Oxford / AstraZeneca at the Staffordshire and Oxford sites were primarily targeted at residents of Great Britain. . The EU has been outraged by the Anglo-Swedish company’s refusal to redirect doses in light of the production shortfall at European facilities.
UK sources said the government had suffered as severe a supply shortage as those experienced by the EU, and that AstraZeneca only delivered a third of what was anticipated by the end of the first quarter of 2021.
“The UK taxpayer paid for the development of this low-cost vaccine and has exported the knowledge, on a non-profit basis, to establish manufacturing capacity around the world,” added a source, referring to their contract with AstraZeneca. .
The German ambassador to Great Britain, Andreas Michaelis, called for an end to the confrontation between the EU and the United Kingdom. Michaelis, the former head of Germany’s diplomatic service, said the relationship needed to improve in the wake of disputes over vaccines and the Brexit withdrawal agreement. “It shouldn’t continue like this,” he tweeted. “We have important things to do. Jointly!”
