The EU are on a collision course with the UK over vaccines.

You seem to have missed the point, this is about the EU Commissioner interfering in a business contract between the UK Government and AstraZeneca.

Exactly.

The UK is continuing to export raw ingredients for vaccines to the EU (according to the BBC)

Monsieur Macron has admitted the EUs failings on the vaccine front and had praise for others getting on so well, like the USA and....and....oh wait, he ran out of battery power! Perhaps he needs some Duracell so that he can finish the sentence!

That's a good point Gannygangan and with hind sight the EU may well see that it would have been much better for the members to organise their own supplies.

I agree Urmstongran that the number of vaccines the UK has exported to the EU is irrelevant. As GrannyGravy has posted, the EU is trying to circumvent legally binding contracts the UK has signed.

This has nothing to do with the number of vaccines the UK has exported to the EU or intends to export.

Pfizer has four sites in the UK, Cambridge, Hurley, Sandwich and Walton Oaks. These are research and development, manufacturing and distribution centres.

I thought that too GrannyGravy13. All this unfortunate mess has probably come at the right time to deter big businesses from either leaving the UK or starting up in the EU. The UK may have lost out to the EU in terms of the financial sector jobs, but manufacturing at home may well become a new growth area.

vegansrock

We used to have a big Pfizer plant here in the U.K. till they relocated to mainland Europe .Anyway, no one seems to know how many vacccines the U.K. exports to the EU. Not irrelevant. You have to see things from both points of view.

You seem to have missed the point, this is about the EU Commissioner interfering in a business contract between the UK Government and Astra Zeneca.

We used to have a big Pfizer plant here in the U.K. till they relocated to mainland Europe .Anyway, no one seems to know how many vacccines the U.K. exports to the EU. Not irrelevant. You have to see things from both points of view.

Does the EU even want the AZ? It has criticised it endlessly. Useless in the over 65s. Causes blood clots. Only to be given to over 55s. They wanted a better price. So on and so forth.

As they have admitted they've made a mess with their programme.

Personally I believe that this was possibly just too big a job for the EU. They might have fared better had each country gone alone and sorted out what was needed for their population.

Of course, we we are endlessly told, these countries could have followed the UK but they were advised to wait for the French vaccine. A vaccine which sadly failed.

I want the EU to be vaccinated as much as they do

Nobody is safe until we're all safe

The UK signed business contracts with companies in mainland Europe for vaccines. The European Commission is attempting to undermine/invalidate these contracts.

If you were a big business owner would you be thinking twice about investing in a factory within the EU if UvDL (or any future EU commissioner) can just pitch up and control your exports? I know I would be extremely hesitant.

Irrelevant vegansrock nice deflection there.
?

Perhaps someone could tell us how many vaccines the U.K. exports to the EU? Genuine question.

Imagine the reaction form around the world if Trump had done something like this?

The really, really scary thing is that, according to my understanding of the article, the EU is giving order to Italian military personnel.

Wow, the unaccountable EU have direct control over a branch of the Italian military?

Jesus. this is scary. I genuinely fear for Europe.

I’m off to me bed.
Let’s see what the newspapers make of this in the morning!

Honestly, You couldn’t make it up. They raided a factory that has vaccines to be sold to themselves, which were being stockpiled because they hadn’t approved the factory.

It’s like the Chuckle Brothers on speed.

Bruno Maçães, Portugal's former Europe minister, called it possibly "the most embarrassing day in EU history".

"So Italian police raids a vaccine factory at suggestion of commission to find out these are vaccines for a global initiative aimed at providing equitable access to vaccines for some of the world's poorest regions? I think we're going to need an explanation of why Italian military police burst into a vaccine factory on false grounds," he added.

During a surprise raid over the weekend, an elite unit of Italian military police acting on EU orders discovered 29 million jab doses hoarded at a factory near Rome.

The discovery appeared to confirm the EU's long-held suspicion that AstraZeneca was giving the UK special treatment, secretly exporting doses to its home country while failing to deliver on contracts agreed with Brussels.

Yet, as EU officials admitted on Wednesday, the allegation, briefed to the Continental press, simply wasn't true.

In fact, most of the doses discovered in the Italian factory were destined for the EU itself, with the remainder headed for poorer countries across the world.

One former Europe minister called it possibly the "most embarrassing day in the EU's history".

?

Huge stock of vaccine has been found ‘hidden’ in a factory in Italy. 29 million doses!,

Apparently the issue between EU and U.K. is now resolved.

Storm in a teacup?

From the Guardian

EU’s joint approach may have secured lower prices and guarantees, but it came at the expense of speed – and at such a critical moment, it can only watch as the UK, which paid the full price, is benefiting from its early orders.
However, the EU approach came with strings. The commission, negotiating for the first time on vital medicines, felt that EU countries would demand value for money, so it dragged out the talks to secure better prices and product liability guarantees. That meant it signed the contracts with AstraZeneca in August, three months after the UK’s contract

Seems like the EU were driven by money (Greed) the Astrazeneca vaccine was sold at cost to the world but the EU wanted to get it even cheaper.

vegansrock from what I’ve read, the capitalism and greed comment referred to the swift development and deployment by the vaccine companies as Boris praised AZ for their non-profit philosophy. Still a crass comment, but not directed at the EU.

However everyone can have tests with or without symptoms free of charge, here the results can be as quick as 24 hours.

silverlining Paris where some friends have been offered appointments because of underlining health problems, but twice have been turned away through lack of vaccine. Others over 70 are still waiting .. true things are changing ...... since yesterday more centre are being opeened. Just hope deliveries will arrive for everyone.
The stocks everyone talks about I know nothing about, maybe in the Netherlands’ factory, for export, as there doesn’t seem to be any here.

Alegrias
In answer to your question would the block be in a better place No. We would all be talking, talking, talking.
Let’s not forget this is an institution that took 9 years to complete a trade deal with one country. And then when they thought they’d achieved that deal the Walloons threw a spanner in the works.

Just imagine if it had been an EU minister accusing the U.K. of “greed”- the knives would be out big time

Pm the Today programme this morning a Belgian Minister said the argument was not between Europe and the UK, it’s between Europe and the vaccine manufacturers. So if true why is this not part of the increasingly problematic debate.