EU leaders on Covid-19 vaccine war and geopolitical tensions
The heads of state of the European Union (EU) held an online summit on March 25 and 26 with the overarching topic being the battle over the supply of Covid-19 vaccines.
In the invitation letter to the Summit sent to European leaders on March 24, President of the European Council Charles Michel emphasized that Europe's biggest priority at this time is to speed up the vaccination of the population against Covid-19 and this Summit will spend most of its time discussing efforts to implement this priority.
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Currently, vaccine supplies to EU countries are still very low compared to demand and the EU is increasing tensions with the UK over sharing AstraZeneca vaccine supplies.
On the afternoon of March 24, the European Commission took a step forward in its intention to ban the export of AstraZeneca vaccines produced in EU countries when it announced a new mechanism to tighten export measures for this item. According to the new mechanism, countries with high vaccination rates for Covid-19 in their population or with policies restricting the export of Covid-19 vaccines through laws or contracts with suppliers will be banned from importing Covid-19 vaccines produced in Europe.
This is a measure that is seen as aimed directly at the UK, forcing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to warn that Europe will be the loser if it bans the export of AstraZeneca vaccines to the UK. In order to ease tensions, the two sides issued a joint statement on the evening of March 24, affirming that they will continue to seek a solution that is beneficial to both sides.
In addition to the Covid-19 vaccine issue, this EU summit will also focus on discussing current geopolitical tensions between Europe and many major partners. To promote this topic, the European side invited US President Joe Biden to attend the online meeting.
Previously, in a statement after meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the afternoon of March 24, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said the EU and the US affirmed to promote cooperation in the strategy of approaching China and changing Russia's current confrontational attitude.
“We have agreed to coordinate our efforts in addressing Russia’s current confrontational attitude and to encourage Russia to abandon this path. However, we remain ready to cooperate with Russia on issues of common interest,” said Josep Borrell.
It is expected that in this Summit,EU leaders will devote a special session to the tense relations with Russia,including hearing a report from European Council President Charles Michel on the results of his latest contacts with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Besides Russia, EU leaders are also expected to discuss relations with Türkiye, including tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean as well as Türkiye's recent accusations of violating democracy./.
