According to insiders, Austria has made a lot of noise during the EU summit on the distribution of the vaccines. Prime Minister Kurz, along with six other countries, believes that the vaccines are not distributed fairly among the countries. According to him, the ten million Pfizer vaccines that are delivered earlier should therefore mainly go to the countries that are lagging behind.
The European heads of government sat today during a summit digitally together to discuss, among other things, the vaccines.
Irritation
Many Member States agree with Kurz. Countries such as Latvia, Croatia and Bulgaria are far behind other European countries and are dangling at the bottom of the list of percentages of vaccinated residents. “We are more impressed by the concerns of countries such as Bulgaria, Latvia and Croatia. We think Austria is not the first country to have a problem,” Prime Minister Rutte said after the summit. But according to Kurz, Austria should also receive more vaccines.
This caused irritation among the other government leaders. Compared to most other European countries, Austria has already vaccinated a larger proportion of the population. The German Chancellor Merkel in particular is said to have been annoyed by Austria’s attitude. It has now been decided that the ambassadors will discuss how the ten million Pfizer vaccines will be distributed among the countries in the coming weeks.
Export of vaccines
Member States also discussed the tightened export restrictions of the vaccines presented by the European Commission yesterday, A few countries, including the Netherlands, showed some concerns about the restrictions. After the EU summit, Prime Minister Rutte said that the export restrictions should preferably not be used.
Yesterday, the Latvian Vice-President of the European Commission Dombrovskis said that restrictions mainly serve as a means of pressure to get vaccines from the United Kingdom, among others. According to Rutte, there is something to be said for this. “But we think it’s important to keep this gun unloaded.” After showing the concerns, the Commission’s plans were finally agreed.
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