After outcry, EU reverses plan to restrict vaccine exports through Irish border

[rooster59]

After outcry, EU reverses plan to restrict vaccine exports through Irish border

By Andy Bruce, Kate Holton and Marine Strauss

 

FILE PHOTO: First Minister Arlene Foster of the DUP speaks in the Great Hall in the Stormont Parliament Buildings in Belfast, Northern Ireland, January 13, 2020. Liam McBurney/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

 

LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union on Friday abruptly reversed a plan to use emergency Brexit measures to restrict exports of COVID-19 vaccines from crossing the Irish border into the United Kingdom after it sent shockwaves through Northern Ireland, London and Dublin.

 

In a steep escalation of the EU's fight to secure vaccine supplies, Brussels had said it would trigger clauses in the Northern Irish Protocol to prevent the vaccines from moving across the open border between EU-member Ireland and the British-run province.

 

Following an outcry in London, Belfast and Dublin, the EU published a statement just before midnight saying it would ensure that the Northern Ireland Protocol, designed to keep the border open, would not be affected.

 

It warned, however, that should vaccines and active substances move toward third countries and out of the bloc, it would use "all the instruments at its disposal".

 

Ireland said the EU's change of heart was welcome but that lessons should be learned.

 

"The Protocol is not something to be tampered with lightly, it's an essential, hard won compromise, protecting peace and trade for many," Irish foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney said on Twitter.

 

The EU's original plan was intended to prevent the open border between EU-member Ireland and Northern Ireland from acting as a backdoor for vaccine supplies into the United Kingdom.

 

The public reversal followed a round of frantic calls as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen of his "grave concerns" while Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin spoke to both Johnson and the EU chief to find a solution.

 

Northern Irish unionists cast the EU's original plan as an act of hostility.

 

In a tweet late on Friday, von der Leyen said she had spoken to Johnson: "We agreed on the principle that there should not be restrictions on the export of vaccines by companies where they are fulfilling contractual responsibilities."

 

STOKING TENSION

 

The swiftest mass vaccination drive in history is stoking tensions across the world as big powers buy up doses in bulk and poorer nations try to navigate a financial and diplomatic minefield to collect whatever supplies are left.

 

The EU, whose member states are far behind Israel, Britain and the United States in rolling out vaccines, is scrambling to get supplies just as the West's biggest drugmakers slow deliveries to the bloc because of production problems.

 

The British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca has been caught in the crosshairs after it said last week it would fall short of delivering promised vaccines to the EU by March because of production problems in Belgium. That angered Brussels which has demanded to know why the company cannot divert supplies from its British sites, which have been producing millions of shots for British citizens.

 

Britain has its own domestic supply chain in place for AstraZeneca, including rolling it out in Northern Ireland, but it imports Pfizer's vaccine from a factory in Belgium.

 

The European Commission agreed to a broader plan to control exports of vaccines from the bloc, including to Britain, arguing it needed to do so to ensure its own supplies.

 

But the EU's abortive attempt to use the Northern Ireland Protocol triggered anger in the province.

 

Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster described it as "an incredible act of hostility".

 

Preserving the delicate peace in Northern Ireland without allowing the United Kingdom a back door into the EU's markets through the UK-Irish 310-mile land border was one of the most difficult issues of the Brexit divorce talks.

 

(Reporting by Kate Holton, Andy Bruce and William James; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Daniel Wallis, Aurora Ellis and Grant McCool)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-01-30

 

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[Tropicalevo]

EU throwing it's rattle out of the pram?

Sore loosers.

[natway09]

Disgusting behaviour by Big Pharma all around the world who assured us all 8 montha ago that the MOU would ensure vaccines available to all .

They now have changed their tune & see $$$$ signs 

Wait til Thailand starts to roll theirs out & watch the bunfight

[Dionigi]

Nice to see the EU looking after the agreement on the border after all their shouting during the Brexit deals

[George Aylesham]

And when will the EU reverse its ban on sending OxfordZeneca vaccines to Thailand?

[dunroaming]

10 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

EU throwing it's rattle out of the pram?

Sore loosers.

I assume you mean losers but losers in what?  They have the power to invoke "emergency Brexit measures" should they decide to do so.  It was certainly sabre rattling and common sense prevailed in the end.

[vogie]

1 minute ago, dunroaming said:

I assume you mean losers but losers in what?  They have the power to invoke "emergency Brexit measures" should they decide to do so.  It was certainly sabre rattling and common sense prevailed in the end.

Best excuse of the day, keep em coming.????????????

[JonnyF]

Who would have thought that Brexiteers would be vindicated so quickly?

 

I would have thought it would take at least a couple of years for tangible benefits to be acknowledged by the bitter losers.

 

But it's not even been a month since the end of the withdrawal agreement and even arch Remainers like Robert Peston have openly admitted they have finally worked it out.????

 

https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1389194/robert-peston-twitter-eu-covid-vaccine-news-brexit-astrazeneka-uk-vaccine-eu-news

 

What a disgrace the EU has become. 

[Loiner]

13 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Northern Irish unionists cast the EU's original plan as an act of hostility.

Bit of a hysterical statement, but on a par with the rhetoric that was coming from Remainers prior to Brexit. Seems a hard border is not such a bad thing when the EU wants one? 

[oldhippy]

1 hour ago, Loiner said:

Bit of a hysterical statement, but on a par with the rhetoric that was coming from Remainers prior to Brexit. Seems a hard border is not such a bad thing when the EU wants one? 

The best solution would be a British withdrawal from the occupied territories.

[Loiner]

4 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

The best solution would be a British withdrawal from the occupied territories.

All British. Even the southern bit that was given away.

[Scott]

An off-topic post has been removed along with one with altered quotes.

 

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https://forum.thaivisa.com/terms/

 

[goldenbrwn1]

1 hour ago, oldhippy said:

The best solution would be a British withdrawal from the occupied territories.

Tell that to the unionists in NI and ask them nicely not to kick off . Good luck ???? 

[FritsSikkink]

2 hours ago, Loiner said:

All British. Even the southern bit that was given away.

British: read occupied by the English. 

Edited January 30, 2021 by FritsSikkink

[goldenbrwn1]

3 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

British: read occupied by the English. 

There is no such thing as English or Englishness. All subjects of the crown esp at that time . Plenty of Scots , Welsh, Scottish and even Irish in ‘British’ uniform occupying. 

[CG1 Blue]

I'm surprised Joe (plastic Irishman) Biden hasn't condemned the EU for threatening to break the Good Friday Agreement. He was vocal enough when he thought the UK might break it. 

[Loiner]

1 hour ago, FritsSikkink said:

British: read occupied by the English. 

About a thousand years ago? I don't think we were very English at that time. You've listened to too many emotional stories about back in the rare owd times.

[oldhippy]

1 hour ago, Loiner said:

About a thousand years ago? I don't think we were very English at that time. You've listened to too many emotional stories about back in the rare owd times.

You've listened to too many emotional stories about back in the rare owd times....says a brexiteer....

[david555]

On 1/31/2021 at 12:33 AM, CG1 Blue said:

I'm surprised Joe (plastic Irishman) Biden hasn't condemned the EU for threatening to break the Good Friday Agreement. He was vocal enough when he thought the UK might break it. 

So......you should understand something out of that ...????

Edited February 2, 2021 by david555