Ursula von der Leyen turned to threats. As a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic looms and variants continue to spread, the President of the Commission said she was ready, Wednesday March 17, to use “All instruments” available to ensure that vaccines ordered by the European Union (EU) are delivered.
The former German minister did not specify which instruments she had, but she intends to discuss the subject with the European heads of state and government who are due to meet in Brussels on March 25 and 26. “Human lives, civil liberties and our economies depend on it”, she justified.
His threats are aimed first at AstraZeneca, whose repeated delays have forced the Twenty-Seven to drastically slow down the pace of their vaccination campaign. They found their first expression on Wednesday in a letter of formal notice that the Commission sent to the Anglo-Swedish group and which sets in motion the dispute settlement mechanism provided for in the contract between the Commission and the manufacturer. As a reminder, the group will have delivered in the first quarter only 30 million doses to Europeans, a third of what was initially planned, and it should provide them with 70 million in the second quarter when they expected 180 million.
“Reciprocity” required
After trying – in vain – to find a solution with AstraZeneca so that the group increases its deliveries, the Europeans have therefore moved to a more offensive phase. On February 26, Rome and the Commission blocked the departure from the Italian factory of AstraZeneca of 250,000 doses which were expected in Australia – where also resides Pascal Soriot, the CEO of the group. And Brussels had said it was ready to start over, if necessary. “It is time for AstraZeneca’s board of directors to exercise its fiduciary responsibility and ensure that AstraZeneca delivers on its commitments”, had tweeted, on March 11, Thierry Breton, the commissioner in charge of the industrial component of the European vaccine strategy.
AstraZeneca #vaccines delivery: I see efforts, but not “best efforts”. That’s not good enough yet for… https://t.co/WOQDf6Wqj2
On Wednesday, Ursula von der Leyen also raised the tone against the United Kingdom, where the factories of the Anglo-Swedish laboratory work exclusively to serve the national market, while they should – according to the Commission – also produce for the Twenty-Seven , as stipulated in the contract between the group and Brussels.
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