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After the pummeling that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has taken in recent weeks, it was perhaps a small victory for her to get through an entire hour of plenary debate in the European Parliament on Wednesday before anyone called for her resignation.
Her main message to MEPs: She “deeply regretted” that “mistakes were made” in the Commission’s failed attempt to override a crucial part of the Brexit deal following a fight over the supply of coronavirus vaccines.
But she also doubled down on defending the Commission’s fundamental approach.
“In the end, we got it right, and I can assure you that my Commission will do its utmost to protect the peace in Northern Ireland,” she insisted.
It was the first time von der Leyen has spoken publicly about the Commission’s decision to reverse course on triggering an emergency override provision in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement as part of its efforts to control vaccine exports. In the process, the Commission invoked Article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol, which could have led to checks on the island of Ireland and temporarily halted the special border arrangement intended to preserve the Good Friday peace agreement.
Irish parliamentarians made sure during the debate that von der Leyen didn’t try to skip over the fiasco. Green MEP Grace O’Sullivan called it a “grave mistake.”
“President, you did not get it right,” O’Sullivan said. “What concrete steps will you put in place to assure the people of Ireland, north and south, that the delicate situation on the island of Ireland is never threatened like this again?”
While the Commission quickly backtracked on Article 16, criticism of its blunder has added to the broader outrage over the EU’s botched vaccine rollout compared with faster drives in the U.S., U.K. and Israel.
Von der Leyen admitted that “we are still not where we want to be.”
“We were late to authorize,” she said. “We were too optimistic when it came to massive production. And perhaps we were too confident that what we ordered would actually be delivered on time.”
But she held firm that the Commission’s vaccine strategy was “the right thing to do,” and she repeated her — still unfulfilled — promise to deliver vaccines outside the bloc to poorer countries.
Blame Big Pharma
Despite the anger directed at von der Leyen, many MEPs from the largest political groups showed solidarity with her and the EU’s overall vaccine strategy, taking more jabs at the U.K. and AstraZeneca than at the Commission.
“We support cooperation with other states but without being naive as Europeans,” Manfred Weber, the leader of the European People’s Party, told MEPs. “An export ban of European produced vaccines must remain on the table.”
“If the United Kingdom is not willing to deliver doses to Europe, then why should we deliver doses to the United Kingdom?” Weber asked.
The U.K. had received shipments of the AstraZeneca vaccine made at plants in continental Europe, but the company so far has refused to divert any supplies from factories in Britain to make up for shortages on the continent. Dacian Cioloș, Renew Europe’s leader in the Parliament, chalked it up to British nationalism.
“[Prime Minister] Boris Johnson’s attitude gives us an idea of what could have happened in Europe if we just let each individual member do what they felt was most convenient in facing this challenge,” said Cioloș. “To fully support the collective approach does not mean that we’re giving everybody a blank check. It’s an opportunity because Europe can’t afford to get it wrong.”
Pascal Canfin, a Renew Europe MEP and chair of the Parliament’s health committee, said the U.K. is besting the EU on vaccinations only because it’s delaying the second doses: “In Europe, we respected the rules; we respected the procedures.”
Parliamentarians also pressed the Commission to find ways to get more vaccines to citizens.
Von der Leyen, joined by Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides, announced a number of new efforts to boost production and transparency, including a proposal coming next week for a biodefense plan; a new group to coordinate between the Commission and Parliament on vaccine developments; a decision to make the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus contract available to MEPs on Thursday; and a formal Commission task force, led by Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton and Kyriakides, to boost production.
Amid all the proposals, von der Leyen counseled caution, saying that “difficulties will arise in the mass production of vaccines,” and she urged EU countries to “plan their vaccines’ rollout so we all need predictability.”
Kyriakides, in her closing statements, noted that 26 million vaccines have been delivered in the EU, and more than 17 million Europeans have been vaccinated. “The pace of vaccinations can and should increase,” she said.
Channeling former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s pledge during the height of the eurozone crisis to do “whatever it takes,” S&D MEP Udo Bullman called on colleagues to grasp the situation at hand.
“Let’s move away from petty squabbling,” he said. “I’m not here to attack the Commission; I’m not here to defend the Commission. I simply want to save lives.”
“If we’re not talking about that, then we’re missing the point,” he said.
The far right and far left, meanwhile, issued the sharpest barbs.
The left pushed the Commission to support a proposal to waive patents to get coronavirus vaccines to poorer countries — a proposal the EU has blocked repeatedly at the World Trade Organization — and criticized the Commission for being played by pharma companies.
“The AstraZeneca contract has not been fulfilled, and we are now in their hands,” GUE/NGL Czech MEP Kateřina Konečná said. “How can it be that the European Commission can enter into an agreement without any mechanisms for sanctions and in the event of breach of contract?”
The far right seized the opportunity to label the Commission’s approach a failure — and called for von der Leyen’s resignation. Jörg Meuthen, an Identity and Democracy MEP from von der Leyen’s native Germany, said she should “do Europe a favor and step down.”
Whether the message got through remains unclear. She had left the debate 30 minutes earlier.
This article is part of POLITICO’s premium policy service: Pro Health Care. From drug pricing, EMA, vaccines, pharma and more, our specialized journalists keep you on top of the topics driving the health care policy agenda. Email [email protected] for a complimentary trial.
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