The Telegraph
Ursula von der Leyen tries to put the blame on deputy for the embarrassment of the turn in the vaccines
Ursula von der Leyen on Monday blamed the vaccine fiasco that led to Brussels threatening a hard border on the island of Ireland to her commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. The president of the European Commission is throwing her deputy, who is led by DG Trade, under the bus amid the growing anger of EU capitals over her ‘go it alone’ tactics during the fight with AstraZeneca last week. Ms von der Leyen’s predecessor, Jean-Claude Juncker, said he was “very opposed” to her export restrictions. In a speech on Sunday in Stuttgart, Mr Juncker also said of the EU vaccine acquisition: “It all went too slowly, it should have done everything more transparently, even if it had been difficult.” “This regulation falls under the responsibility of Mr Dombrovskis,” said Eric Marmer, the European Commission’s chief spokesman, referring to the former prime minister of Latvia, a veteran in Brussels with a reputation for being cautious. “In my country we have a statement: ‘Only the pope is infallible’. Mistakes can happen along the way. The most important thing is that you recognize it early, ‘said Mr. Mamer said. Alexander Stubb, the former Prime Minister of Finland who campaigned for the nomination of the European Commission, was president busy with Mrs. Von der Leyen. He said: “Number one rule of any leader: if you screw up your organization; never blame your team in public” Mrs. Von der Leyen was forced to make a humiliating climb on Friday after announcing that Brussels would cause Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol to prevent AstraZeneca vaccines from being smuggled from Northern Ireland to Britain. The move, announced without notifying Ireland or Britain, would have created a “vaccine border” after years of Brexit talks to avoid a hard border on the island. After the Irish Prime Minister called Mrs von der Leyen, the regulation was amended, which could have facilitated a ban on the export of vaccines to non-EU countries, including Britain. Mamer said the regulation to create an “export transparency mechanism”, which includes the Article 16 measure, was tentatively and quickly adopted by the entire College of Commissioners. Asked by the Telegraph if this was Van der Leyen’s worst week, he said: “We believe that since the beginning of this pandemic we have been on the right track to ensure that there is such a coherent and effective European response is possible.