Berlin – The president of the European Union Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has admitted the mistakes of the EU leaders in the fight against the coronavirus and, in particular, the problems at the source of vaccines, promising more transparency in the future, but with thousands of other people across the 27-nation bloc searching for photographs as new variants of COVID-19 spread, the promise is too small, too stale due to some European lawmakers.
In Germany, the EU’s largest economy, just over 2. 4 million people have received at least their first vaccine. Appointments are difficult to schedule because many immunization centers have no supplies. With more vaccines from other brands approved in the country, lawmakers hope to do so. will offer vaccination to all adults until the end of summer.
But for other countries such as the UNITED States or the United Kingdom, with only 2. 9% of its population at least partially vaccinated so far, Germany, like many of its EU neighbours, has fallen far behind.
“We were slow to get approval, we were too positive about mass production and maybe we were too sure that orders would be delivered on time,” von der Leyen admitted to the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday. to order vaccines across the EU, rather than allowing individual member states to negotiate their own agreements.
If a few giant Member States had it alone, it would have had unpredictable consequences for the EU’s internal market, he argued, and it would have been “the end of our community. “
After a serious complaint about European vaccine purchases, von der Leyen said the pharmaceutical industry simply hadn’t been able to keep up with the “revolutionary pace” of vaccine development. Since then, your company has created an organization that deals with new production problems, for example. due to shortages in the source of ingredients.
The European Commission will also provide a plan next week to prepare in particular for the risk posed by viral mutations. EU regulations will be adapted and more specific tests on coronaviruses will be needed, adding more genetic sequencing to identify and monitor variants.
Von der Leyen also sought to highlight the successes: to date around 26 million doses of vaccine have been administered in the 27-nation bloc, and more than 17 million others in Europe have been vaccinated. The goal of vaccinating 70% of the adult population in Europe has been set until the end of summer.
Opposition politicians were dissatisfied with the promises and asked for further clarification. Liberal legislators in the European Parliament have called for the creation of a commission to investigate deficiencies in the EU’s vaccination strategy. European Left Party Chairman Manon Aubry said the European Commission was held accountable and called for the early establishment of the committee.
Other parliamentary teams have separately called for an investigation into the Commission’s handling of vaccine purchases, but most political teams in the European Parliament have been in favour of the Commission President’s strategy of a non-unusual European approach.
However, lawmakers were quick to note that delays in deliveries have created mistrust among others in their countries.
Some MEPs criticized the lack of transparency in negotiations with vaccine manufacturers.
Amid harsh criticism, von der Leyen made two other commitments to legislators: he promised to do everything possible to allow MEPs to review home contracts and said he would establish a contact organisation with Parliament to facilitate greater exchange of information.