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At the same time as the reports of the tightening come, Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide has received assurances that vaccine exports to Norway will continue, reports NTB.
– I have today received confirmation from Commission President von der Leyen that vaccines will go in the usual way from the EU to Norway via Sweden. There is thus no change for Norway, says Eriksen Søreide.
This is despite the fact that Norway is no longer on the list of countries that can buy vaccines without approval from the EU.
Does Britain not share
But for other countries there may now be changes.
While the EU and several EU countries have been criticized for not making much progress in vaccination, vaccination in the UK has progressed steadily.
After several weeks of warnings, the European Commission today came up with proposals for severe restrictions on the export of vaccines. The proposal will be discussed by EU leaders on Thursday.
EU countries have argued that there was an unfair distribution of vaccine doses between the Union and the United Kingdom. The EU believes that while they themselves have allowed the export of 10 million doses to the UK, they have not received anything in return.
– The EU is in the middle of a very serious epidemiological situation, at the same time as we continue to export to countries where the infection situation is less serious, says the European Commission’s Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis.
Conflict with AstraZeneca
Now the British will probably get fewer vaccine doses from the continent. The EU insists that this proposal does not prohibit exports to the UK, but says this is a tool that can be used if necessary. If EU leaders adopt the proposal, exports to countries that do not export vaccines to other countries could be restricted.
AstraZeneca has been in conflict with the EU over vaccine deliveries. Now the company can be hit hard by those rules. They have delivered far fewer vaccines to the EU than expected, and have explained this with production problems and export restrictions from other countries.
Last week, Italian authorities blocked the export of 250,000 doses to Australia. Under new EU rules, they could block such deliveries from companies that have not complied with their obligations to the countries of the union.
Johnson threatens with his own austerity measures
EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen emphasizes that in the last six weeks, the EU has allowed the export of around 41 million vaccine doses to 33 countries. She says the union is thus a leader when it comes to international vaccine distribution cooperation.
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson has reacted by saying that it may be relevant to tighten the rules for truck drivers who bring goods into the country. He also says that it may be relevant to put France on the list of “red” countries when it comes to travel.
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