EU president Ursula von der Leyen blames deputy for vaccine export U-turn

The European Commission president has blamed one of her deputies for last week’s humiliating U-turn on vaccine export controls that soured relations with Dublin and London.

Brussels on Friday announced – and then quickly scrapped – a controversial plan to put controls on the Irish border to limit the export of Covid-19 vaccines to the UK.

The proposal caused outrage in both Britain and Ireland, coming as it did after years of intense work on how to keep the border open after Brexit.

But on Monday a spokesperson for Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels that it was not Ms Von der Leyen, but commission vice president Valdis Dombrovskis who was in fact responsible.

“What I can tell you is that there is one cabinet which was lead on this, that is executive vice president Valdis Dombrovskis because he is in charge of trade,” the commission’s chief spokesperson said.

“This regulation falls under the responsibility of Mr Dombrovskis and his cabinet and of course the services of the commission which respond to him.”

Mr Dombrovskis, the bloc’s trade chief, had ruled out vaccine export controls two days before the commission released its proposals. He was responsible for presenting the new regulations on Friday.

“Only the pope is infallible,” the spokesperson for Ms Von der Leyen added.

“Mistakes can happen along the way, the important thing is that you recognise them early on, in this case so early that it was before the decision was finalised, and that you correct it.”

Simon Coveney, Ireland’s foreign minister, on Monday criticised the commission’s cavalier approach to the border just a month after the Irish protocol came into effect.

“I think it was a mistake that everybody recognises should not have happened,” he said.

“I mean in simple terms, you do not touch the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland without full consultation with the people who are most impacted by it.

“The Irish government, the British government and, perhaps most importantly, political leaders in Northern Ireland.

“That’s what happened on Friday, which should not have happened.

“And I think lessons have been learned as a result of that, and it certainly won’t happen again.”

Ms Von der Leyen had also said Boris Johnson promised that coronavirus vaccines from UK factories would be delivered to Europe.

As the commission came under attack for the slow provision of jabs in the EU, Ms Von der Leyen on Sunday night told German TV that AstraZeneca had agreed to step up deliveries of its vaccine in February and March by 9 million doses to 40 million.

And she today said that Pfizer will provide the EU with 75 million additional doses of its vaccine in the second quarter of 2021, bringing the total to as many as 600 million over the course of the year.

Ms Von der Leyen insisted that the EU was working with the UK in the fight against Covid-19 and rejected the idea the pair were in a race to protect their own populations.

“The only race we are in is against the virus and against time,” she told the ZDF broadcaster.

“I had a very good conversation with Boris Johnson. There is a lot we can do to work together in this pandemic.

“I was glad that he guaranteed that the two factories which produce AstraZeneca will of course deliver to Europe, just as European vaccine doses, for example from BioNTech, are being delivered to Britain.

“That is the spirit with which we must approach this pandemic. Our opponent is the virus and the pharmaceutical industry is part of the solution to the problem.”

Downing Street did not dispute Ms von der Leyen’s account of the conversation, although there was no mention of UK supplies going to Europe in the summary released by No 10 on Friday evening.

Asked repeatedly whether he could confirm the commission president’s account at a daily Westminster media briefing, the PM’s spokesperson simply referred back to Friday’s press release.

Ms Von der Leyen gave no timetable or projected volume for the delivery of vaccine doses from the AstraZeneca plants in Oxford and Keele to the EU.

The UK government has not ruled out allowing supplies from the factories to be rerouted to Europe before the planned completion of the vaccination of Britain’s adult population in September.

It is thought that ministers want to complete the protection of the top nine priority groups in the UK before considering sending doses overseas. These groups are due to receive their jabs by the end of the spring and include all over-50s, health and care staff and those with underlying health conditions.

Mr Johnson’s spokesperson said today: “It is too early to talk about surplus doses. Our priority remains to vaccinate UK adults. Our priority remains to get to the top four priority groups by the middle of February and then to those remaining on the phase one list by the end of the spring.”

Liz Truss, the international trade secretary, said on Sunday that the UK wanted to “work with friends and neighbours” but said it was too early to talk of the UK giving excess doses of the coronavirus vaccine to other countries.

Her colleague Michael Gove had said the UK wanted to “help” the EU, which faces a crisis after AstraZeneca announced a 60 per cent cut from 80 million to 31 million in supply of vaccine doses to the EU in the first quarter of 2021 – now increased to 40 million.