LONDON (UK) – British foreign minister Dominic Raab levelled accusations against the European Commission of brinkmanship over its threat to impose ban exports of COVID-19 vaccines. It urged Commission head Ursula von der Leyen to give a detailed explanation of her comments.
The European Union on Wednesday threatened to ban exports of COVID-19 vaccines to Britain to secure scarce doses for its own citizens, with von der Leyen expressing concerns over an insufficiency of deliveries from AstraZeneca plants in Britain.
Raab told, “I think it takes some explaining because the world’s watching… It also cuts across the direct assurances that we had from the Commission. We expect those assurances and legal, contracted supply to be respected.”
He said von der Leyen’s comments were contrary to assurances he was given by Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis and by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
“We were reliably informed that they weren’t aware of any plans to restrict lawfully contracted supply to the UK,” Raab said.
However, a Commission official said Dombrovskis with Raab that the aim of the EU’s export authorisation system was to make sure that deliveries to EU countries were not impacted by exports disproportionately.
The Commission official said, “Dombrovskis invited the British government to provide figures on its exports of vaccines to the EU, which we look forward to receiving.” He pointed out the EU had handed over 10 million vaccine doses to Britain, however, he received none.
The government says it is on its way to give a first COVID-19 shot to half of all adults within the next few days.
Raab said, “Keeping supply chains open, keeping trade and vital supplies of medical equipment and vaccines is critically important. We’ve all been arguing for this.”
