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Once the plan was published, senior officials in Brussels could see that their boss had made a terrible mistake.
They understood the reason for the restriction of vaccines on shots sent from the European Union, but they could hardly believe that Ursula von der Leyen missed the bigger picture and how the proposals would end up in Ireland.
The president of the European Commission was among those who, during four years of Brexit negotiations, insisted that Irish border controls could jeopardize the island’s peace settlement. Less than a month after the trade agreement with the UK went into effect, the EU was now the one threatening to set up barriers and unilaterally activate emergency clauses in line with the UK
Photographer: Thierry Monasse / Laposte / Bloomberg
While the depravity was raining down, officials who had been diligently negotiating these agreements and had barely been consulted on von der Leyen’s decision felt that the moral authority of the EU was being shattered. The proposals quickly united to condemn natural enemies across the sectarian divide in Northern Ireland as well as the World Health Organization and the pharmaceutical industry.
The events that lead to the decision to control exports shows that von der Leyen’s team is suffering from the tremendous pressure to rectify its vaccination program. Starting the week under fire because they moved too slowly, they ended up making things much, much worse by moving too fast.
In addition to the faltering vaccination program, which is likely to cost thousands of lives and billions in lost production, von der Leyen and her team have really damaged the EU and its self-esteem as a proponent of open markets and the rule of law.
Question about competence
Several officials lamented that her predecessor, Jean-Claude Juncker, would never allow events to get out of control in such a way and wondered if von der Leyen would be forced to bring back some of his advisers to stabilize the ship. One has speculated that EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides is likely to be made the scapegoat.
Even those close to von der Leyen admit mistakes were made. In a sign of the lack of foresight at stake, officials in Dublin first found out about the move on social media. Some are concerned about the upset that the complicated arrangements have caused permanent damage to prevent the return of a hard-line Irish border by freeing critics of the Brexit agreement and the EU.
One official in Brussels said this is what happens if policy-making is done too quickly.
Eric Mamer, spokesman for Von der Leyen, said it was an institutional reality that all decisions go through the president’s cabinet and the college of commissioners. No decisions are made without consensus, he added.
While von der Leyen and her team fought to bring the crisis under control, their thinking was fueled by a burning sense of injustice about how AstraZeneca Plc handled its initial 336 million ($ 408 million) vaccine contract. . Bloomberg spoke to officials in the EU bureaucracy and national governments, most of whom expressed frustration, anger and sadness over the way the commission had handled the situation. But everyone showed a strong belief that Astra CEO Pascal Soriot had done them wrong, and some even suggested that Astra had broken its contract with the bloc.
An exercise that began life as an expedition to bring about transparency and gather evidence against the company quickly emerged in chaotic mudslinging that some fear could lead to a trade conflict in the midst of a pandemic.
‘Vaccination hijacking’
Astra caused the crisis just over a week ago when it revealed that the planned vaccine supply to the EU had been reduced by 60% to 31 million doses after disruption at a factory in Belgium. At the same time, deliveries in the UK mostly met expectations, helping the British vaccination program to rush ahead of the mainland.
The most recent data show that the EU administered 2.6 doses per 100 people, compared to the 12.5 doses in the United Kingdom and the 8.8 in the United States. The news of the delays caused a shock of fear and outrage across the continent.
“Vaccine diplomacy has turned into vaccine hijacking,” said Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.
The Bloomberg Covid-19 Tracker: More than 90.8 million shots fired
Astra has indeed used its EU supply chain to comply with the UK contract. The British vaccine vaccine said in December that some of Britain’s initial supplies would come from Germany and the Netherlands, while German MP Peter Liese said the vaccine going to the UK in recent days would be bottled in Germany. .
Vaccine production workshops in Europe
The EU is determined to take a closer look at the movements.
The Commission’s health services this week told ambassadors from member states that millions of vaccines had been sent from the EU to countries, including the United Kingdom, China, Israel and Canada, in recent months, according to a diplomatic cable from the meeting seen by Bloomberg is.
Some EU officials suspect that Astra was responsible for part of the shipments and that they should have withheld doses for European buyers. But they do not have the evidence to prove it because the data is not set out according to manufacturer.
Export control
The acquisition of the information was the goal on Monday when the commission’s trade service began drawing up plans for a system that would oblige companies to simply indicate their exports. It will also require companies to provide data on exports exported since December, clarifying how many doses Astra has exported.
“We do not plan to impose an export ban or export restrictions,” said EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s a matter of transparency.”
It was also the moment when the CEO of Astra chose to launch an extensive offensive maintenance to the European newspapers including La Repubblica in Italy. He said the delays were partly due to the signing of EU supply contracts to the UK and rejected accusations of profiteering.
“I am a European, I have Europe at heart,” he said. “So we want to treat Europe as well as possible. You know, we do it without any profit, remember? ‘
Photographer: Zach Gibson / Bloomberg
Read more: Astra-EU struggle opens new rift in global effort to end pandemic
By Tuesday night, pressure from Germany, first France and then France, had begun to increase for a stricter approach.
By Wednesday morning, the tension between the two parties was so severe that they could not even agree if a phone call took place. which was scheduled for the evening would continue.
Soriot’s interview angered officials and member states. Ambassadors said at a news conference that day that the demands of the Astra CEO were shocking and did not comply with the contractual obligations, reads a diplomatic note seen by Bloomberg.
At a media conference later, Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides rejected the drugmaker’s first come, first serve argument. “It can work for the butchers, but not in contracts,” she said. said.
At that point, von der Leyen decided that the commission needed to flex its muscles and shift the focus to a stricter regime that would oblige companies with contracts to provide the EU, not just to give notice, but to get permission before performed their doses outside the block.
Series of blaps
Nevertheless, EU commissioners, who normally make joint decisions, were deeply divided over whether to adopt them. Eventually, von der Leyen and her cabinet decided to take a stronger approach.
And so a mad rush begins to draw up a plan ahead of a self-imposed deadline for Friday. The haste and pressure to deliver led to a chain of mistakes.
Reporters were invited to a technical briefing on Thursday before a proposal was finalized, something the Commission almost never does.
On Friday morning, the EU announced its contract with Astra, with confidential sections being awkwardly amended in a way that meant the information could be easily discovered by amateurs online. Dombrovskis and Kyriakides were urged to submit the new regulations before various elements, including the decision-making clauses, were properly fully strengthened.
Although the important sections across Northern Ireland were a late addition to the document, all senior officials involved were involved and saw the plan before it was put into operation. The final deregistration was the responsibility of von der Leyen’s office.
A person familiar with the process was not involved in the decision of Michel Barnier, who led the Brexit negotiations. Another said other members of the Brexit task force were only called in at the end of the process and asked how the UK could be notified of a measure already agreed.
Photographer: Oliver Hoslet / AFP / Getty Images
When the mechanism finally hit the internet, Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson were furious over the decision to introduce temporary export vaccine control between the EU and Northern Ireland and expressed serious concern.
Von der Leyen quickly spoke to both Martin and Johnson by telephone to try to clear things up. The EU removed the regulation from its website and forced in a statement to return just before midnight. Von der Leyen followed up a series of tweets late at night.
But the whole episode was red meat for hard-line Brexit supporters in the UK Tom Tugendhat, a moderate MP from Johnson’s Conservative Party, said it exposed the EU stance and showed how little goodwill there is.
Although the EU’s executive will not cause the controversial clause, it has not completely removed the threat, and warned in its follow – up statement that it would consider using ‘all instruments’ if the ban on vaccine exports is circumvented. .
An updated version of the plan published on Saturday morning does not include the sections on Northern Ireland, but still indicates the suspicion that Astra could use the Irish border as a back door to carry Covid-19 shots from the EU to the To send UK.
Manufacturers will be required to provide information on all doses distributed since 1 December, including those sent to Northern Ireland.
And von der Leyen is about to pick up the pieces after one of the most difficult episodes of her tenure.
Lucinda Creighton, a former minister of European affairs in Dublin, presented a concise assessment of the events of the week.
“Disaster,” she said in a Twitter message.