Ursula von der Leyen has refused to apologize for the series of coronavirus vaccines that have led Brussels to threaten a hard border on the island of Ireland and demand that it be diagnosed only three years later. whose term of office is over.
The president of the European Commission under fire made it clear that she would not release the fiasco and defended the slow pace of EU vaccine distribution compared to Britain, claiming it was “safer”, in the newspaper interviews that aimed to dispel growing criticism of her across the block.
Mrs von der Leyen, whose tenure as German defense minister failed, asked how things got so bad a week after her commission attacked AstraZeneca for failing to carry out immunization orders. .
“People are getting a lot of pressure from the chronic pandemic. I fully understand those anger and feelings,” she said. “In politics there are always ups and downs and even more so in times of crisis, but the final assessment is what matters.”
“We wait until the end of the term to see the successes and mistakes and then we will consider it,” said Mrs von der Leyen, whose five-year term ends at the end of 2024.
Ms von der Leyen will oppose MEPs from European Parliament parties outside the EU behind closed meetings on the relationship tonight.
As Britain used emergency measures to give the AstraZeneca vaccine a market deal, and signed a contract with the company three months before Brussels, the EU used a slower process led by the European Medicines Agency. .
“The Commission and the member states have agreed not to compromise the safety and efficacy requirements of a vaccine permit,” said Mrs von der Leyen.
“We make mistakes every day. We learn every day. That coronary heart disease is like a roller-coaster. But I’m sure we can only get out of the disease. spread this together. “
“If every member state had entered the market on its own, the EU would not have received five of the six successful vaccines by now.”
The Commission launched an unprecedented attack on Astrazeneca last week after the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company said it could only deliver a quarter of its targeted jobs in the first quarter of the year.
Brussels accused AstraZeneca of breaching its contract and, amid suspicions of giving the EU vaccine stock to the UK, launched plans to force EU vaccine manufacturers to apply for approval before sending out jaban out of the block.