Chinese and Russian regimes with less desirable values than ours, says EC President Michel
European Council President Charles Michel on Tuesday rejected charges of “vaccine nationalism” levelled against the EU, saying that while Britain and the United States have outright bans on exports of COVID-19 shots, the EU had not stopped exporting.
The EU has found itself under fire at home for a vaccine roll-out much slower than those of former member Britain or the United States, and abroad for so far doing less than China, Russia or India to supply vaccines to poor countries.
Last week it annoyed vaccine buyers abroad by endorsing an Italian decision to halt a shipment to Australia.
Britain had a quick retort for the comments by Michel, who represents the 27 European Union member states, saying it has not blocked the export of a single COVID-19 vaccine.
“Any references to a UK export ban or any restrictions on vaccines are completely false,” a UK government spokesman said.
In a lengthy statement Michel laid out a defence of the bloc’s strategy. He said that without Europe, it would not have been possible to develop and produce several vaccines in less than a year, and EU solidarity had ensured that poorer countries of the bloc received their first doses.
He took aim at the “highly publicised” supply of vaccines by China and Russia to other countries.
“We should not let ourselves be misled by China and Russia, both regimes with less desirable values than ours, as they organise highly limited but widely publicised operations to supply vaccines to others.” Michel also noted that China and Russia had both vaccinated fewer people at home than the EU.
“Europe will not use vaccines for propaganda purposes. We promote our values,” he said.
Michel also defended a system to control the export of doses produced in EU countries, invoked by Italy last week to block a shipment of AstraZeneca shots to Australia.
“Our objective: to prevent companies from which we have ordered and pre-financed doses from exporting them to other advanced countries when they have not delivered to us what was promised,” Michel said. “The EU has never stopped exporting.”
He said the EU would become the world’s leading vaccine producer in the coming months and was the best equipped to adapt vaccine output quickly to virus mutations.
The British government’s rebuff of Michel’s comments came at a time of growing tensions between London and Brussels following the completion of Britain’s exit from the EU at the end of 2020.
Relations strained by years of bruising talks over Brexit took a turn for the worse in January when the EU briefly threatened to use emergency measures to stop coronavirus vaccines going from the bloc into Northern Ireland, a British-ruled province bordering EU member state Ireland.
“This pandemic is a global challenge and international collaboration on vaccine development continues to be an integral part of our response,” the British government spokesman said.
2 Comments
“We promote our values” claims the self-righteous European Council President, Charles Michel.
However, today’s events in the European Parliament – involving DISGRACEFUL actions against the President of Catalonia and several other ELECTED members of the European Parliament – clearly show that “desirable values” of the E.U. do NOT extend to minority groups (such as CATALANS) within that disjointed conglomeration of European nations.
In this respect, the E.U. is no better than China and Russia, neither of which pretend – like the HYPOCRITICAL and SELF-RIGHTEOUS European Commission plus its various parasitic leeches – to be LIBERAL DEMOCRACIES.
Mr. Michel – who is nothing but a FAILED and UTTERLY INCOMPETENT Belgian politician – should immediately return to the “BUGS BUNNY SHOW” (where he plays the better-suited role of ELMER FUDD) so that everyone can laugh at his continual pathetic antics.
President Michel by saying”Chinese and Russian regimes with less desirable values than ours” shows
that people’s lives are far less important than so-called “values”.
It spells political values to me.
If the EU continues to follow with it’s standover politics as they are, I for one can’t see much of a future
for the EU.
It is also evident that Mr. Michel has not been on a ventilator, otherwise he would know what the priorities are in an emergency situation.
Politicians should never be allowed to make decisions regarding health.
As you can see THIS IS THE RESULT.
In Hungary the health professionals make the decisions and the government implements it.
That is how it should be.