EU has triggered article 16 over controls on vaccine exports

[soundofsilence1]

Breaking news on sky
news.sky.com/story/covid-19-eu-introduces-controls-on-vaccine-exports-to-northern-ireland-12202656

So today they’ve published by mistake a pdf with confidential information
And triggered a brexit agreement by mistake

Think they should go to bed soon!

@DasPepe

Omg This is ducking typical. And that how barriers are built. AZ had gone beach on their contract, but that’s ok?

Most governments are white because nobody holds anyone to account on any ducking thing. It is the same in the workplace - we have raised a generation of me me me bullshitters who refuse to ever own up to their own mistakes and look only for themselves. It’s only fair when it benefits you. This is true all over Europe but especially in Westminster.

AZ have not breached their contract as it stands. That's for the lawyers to argue out. But keep on defending the indefensible

@deliciouschilli

So Belgium, Germany and France have triggered Article 16 without consulting other nations (including Ireland)!! and the other debt who*re nations who have no option but to go along with whatever Brussels says... to achieve what??? We don't actually have that much vaccine on order compared to the larger countries?? What on earth do they think they can take? We don't have the millions that they need... So irresponsible and mindblowingly stupid.

3 countries unilaterally decided trigger article 16 without consulting other eu nations doesn't sound a like a accidental mistake or legit to me. Don't all 27 member States have to ratify this decision. Fact Ireland not told shocking we should include them in our UK vaccination schedule from Monday and not let eu cause war in Ireland.

@CayrolBaaaskin

A bit hysterical no? What they have done is trigger art 15 so NI will be treated as a non EU country for vaccine export purposes. This can be done in emergencies which Covid undoubtedly is. It’s not ideal and I would prefer to see cooperation but I think racist comments about Germans taking over or the EU being finished are overkill.

Some sense at last! So many people so concerned about NI all of a sudden. I wonder why?!

www.spiegel.de/international/europe/europe-s-vaccine-disaster-commission-president-ursula-von-der-leyen-seeking-to-duck-responsibility-a-1197547d-6219-4438-9d69-b76e64701802

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is trying to get out of the firing line as anger grows over the EU's botched vaccine rollout. It's not the first time in her career that she has sought to evade responsibility.

hese days, though, von der Leyen is noticeably quieter – a silence that could have to do with the fact that the erstwhile "success story" might ultimately turn out to be the greatest disaster of her entire political career.

Europe is facing a vaccine disaster. Whereas countries like Israel, Britain and the United States. are quickly moving ahead with vaccinations, the EU is reeling from a string of setbacks. First, U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech informed Brussels that it would be delivering far less vaccine than planned in the coming weeks. Then, the company AstraZeneca said it would only be delivering 31 million doses of its vaccine by the end of March instead of the 80 million Europe had been expecting.

Since then, frustration and anger has been growing across the EU. Europe, one of the most affluent regions in the world, is proving to be unable to quickly protect its citizens from a deadly disease, while other countries are showing how it is done.

And the boss is nowhere to be found.

Loving the EU belonging on the CF thread.

@reformedcharacters @CaptainMarvelDanvers I am another Leave voting lawyer. And proper delighted for everyone who has had the vaccine and everyone from HK who will get a UK passport.

Also there was never any requirement for Eu member states to procure vaccines via the EU. Germany could get their own supply if they liked (and they did).

What about Clauses 6.1,6.2 and 6.3 of the contract?

@CayrolBaaaskin

A bit hysterical no? What they have done is trigger art 15 so NI will be treated as a non EU country for vaccine export purposes. This can be done in emergencies which Covid undoubtedly is. It’s not ideal and I would prefer to see cooperation but I think racist comments about Germans taking over or the EU being finished are overkill.

For what purpose though? The UK doesn't need to get EU vaccine supplies via the backdoor and NI will get it's supply from the UK.

Ah, so they’ve deserted the coronavirus board en masse and retreated back to their echo chamber. Hilarious!

I was like the annoying little sister who pops up when you have your all friends round for tea .

@CayrolBaaaskin

A bit hysterical no? What they have done is trigger art 15 so NI will be treated as a non EU country for vaccine export purposes. This can be done in emergencies which Covid undoubtedly is. It’s not ideal and I would prefer to see cooperation but I think racist comments about Germans taking over or the EU being finished are overkill.

That is very questionable. The pandemic is definitely a crisis, but the EUs unpreparedness when it came to vaccine procurement, indecisive actions and general bureaucratic slowness, is not a crisis, it's mismanagement

So the EU is now massively rowing backwards, after the world went WHAT THE FUCK??? at it. And is now not going to invoke Article 16.

Damage is done, though. Mask has slipped.

Urgh. Urgh. Urgh. What a nasty little group of people there is on here. Full EU hatred on show. Makes me sick to be British.

The EU can do whatever it wants. The vaccines are being produced on their turf and they are owed them. They signed a contract with AZ. Nowhere did it stipulate that it was ‘only if it hadn’t been taken first by somebody else.’ There was no mention of ‘first come first served.’ No priority list. Ever.

The uk didn’t mind using the EU production infrastructure to get its first supplies. And they only approved it first because they skipped over several steps of the approval process. Nice, hun. DH is a pretty senior pharma expert and says the British media, right wing and pro brexit as it is, is presenting the situation at its most horrifically unbalanced and anti EU. Of course, somebody has to bolster Boris after he’s managed to kill off 100,000 people. The reality is v different.

The EU have been founder members of the c.f. club since day one.

@Dongdingdong

Well well well. The MN ‘give me one fucking reason why leave is a good idea’ brigade have gone very quiet haven’t they?

Indeed. (Though on other threads leavers have been accused of ‘gloating’ because Britain was organised about getting vaccine and the EU wasn’t.)

The EU brought up the Irish border during Brexit negotiations. They know. I think that member states will be horrified that they'd do something like this without consulting the affected member state.

The EU are massive CF. Did everyone know that they are paying half of the price for each AZ vaccine that South Africa is being charged?

www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n281

@CayrolBaaaskin

Also there was never any requirement for Eu member states to procure vaccines via the EU. Germany could get their own supply if they liked (and they did).

Only as the EU was taking so long and only as a side hustle.

www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/corona-impfstoff-knappheit-die-eu-hat-einen-machtverlust-erlitten-und-das-bekommt-sie-jetzt-zu-spueren-a-7dc4101c-abb8-4883-b4f6-4acad29b5acb

There was a lot of pressure from the Commission for the Germans, Dutch, Italians and French to go with the EU scheme, which they did, even though they initially were making their own deals.

www.bild.de/politik/ausland/politik-inland/with-this-letter-by-jens-spahn-the-vaccine-disaster-in-the-eu-begann-74736986.bild.html

*And the EU does?? If so, why did they invoke art16?

I think you have to give mainland Brits a bit more credit regarding NI and the Republic as we weren't unaffected by the Troubles (assuming this is what you are referring to.)*

No, they absolutely don't deserve more credit.

If Brexit had never happened & this situation was an emergency resource conflict with say... USA... the same people condemning EU now would be thumbing their noses to say "EU has every right to do this!!" to protect EU vaccine supplies.

I have too much intolerance to hypocrisy, I guess.

@samanthawashington - the Eu say AZ have breached, AZ say they have not. The contract is not clear and is not governed by English law anyway (so I would question how much we can reliably interpret it). So you can’t say that AZ haven’t breached- that’s not clear at all.

I’m a bit disturbed at this rise in rampant trump like nationalism. I don’t think it will do any of us any good.

m.independent.ie/news/eu-backtracks-on-decision-to-block-supply-of-vaccines-to-northern-ireland-40028406.html?utm_source=xtremepush&utm_medium=webpush&utm_campaign=EU+backtrack+%28xtremepush+%2351767712%29&utm_term=notification+%23576565934_1860526464&utm_content=A

Changed mind no hard feelings guys.
Not been there finest day.
No redacted documents and accidently invoking article 16 as they admit someone in some sort position power clearly did this but did not consider wider implications.
They cf of the year surely.

@Oreservoir yes. Sorry, what I meant was remainers in the main aren't defending the EU. Badly worded. I am shocked actually at how many remainers are rightly saying that the EU are acting disgracefully.

The narrative has changed, that's what I meant. And leavers are coming out in force when before they were scared to post (mostly).

Hey @Suzeyshoes, why not pop over to Twitter where the whole of the Remain gang are appalled by what the EU were going to do.

If we had remained in the EU we would have been caught up in their inept vaccine programme. They have just demonstrated why the UK is better off out of the EU and now thrown their toys out of the pram because they messed up.

Dual British and German citizen here.

I’m appalled by the EU’s behaviour. If it had been the UK doing something like this the outcry would have been huge.

Also, the vaccine issue is between AZ and the EU, as people have pointed out before. UK government has nothing to do with it. It seems a petty thing to do, dragging the UK into their vaccine war.

I’m also not particularly offended by anti-German comments. Because I’m not a snowflake. And they’re not racist because there isn’t such a thing as a German race (that bubble burst 80 years ago)