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A senior EU diplomat has been summoned to the Foreign Office in London in the latest twist in the increasingly bitter row over Covid vaccine supply.
It follows an accusation by European Council president Charles Michel that the UK government had imposed an “outright ban” on the export of jabs produced in Britain.
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab sought to “set the record straight” in a letter to Mr Michel on Tuesday evening, inisisting the EU chief’s claims were “completely false”.
Top EU official Nicole Mannion was summoned to the Foreign Office for “further discussions” on the dispute on Wednesday morning.
A spokesman for the EU delegation said: “This morning Nicole Mannion, deputy ambassador of the EU to the UK and charge d’affaires at the EU Delegation to the UK attended a meeting at the request of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.”
Mr Michel, in a newsletter sent out on Tuesday, said he was “shocked” when he heard allegations of vaccine nationalism levelled at the EU, saying: “The facts do not lie.”
He added: “The United Kingdom and the United States have imposed an outright ban on the export of vaccines or vaccine components produced on their territory.”
Mr Raab shot back with a letter saying “any references to a UK export ban or any restrictions on vaccines are completely false”. The minister insisted the UK “has not blocked a single Covid-19 vaccine or vaccine components”, adding: “We are all facing this pandemic together.”
Mr Michel appeared to attempt to smooth over the dispute with a tweet on Tuesday evening, saying: “Glad if the UK reaction leads to more transparency and increased exports, to EU and third countries.”
The EU chief claimed there were “different ways of imposing bans or restrictions” on vaccines.
Health secretary Matt Hancock has talked up the UK’s involvement in the Covax scheme, aimed at sharing the vaccine around the world, after shipments of AstraZeneca-Oxford jab arrived in Ghana and the Ivory Coast.
“I’m so pleased to see our Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine – which is having such a positive impact here at home – play such a vital role in saving lives around the world,” he said on Tuesday.
The AstraZeneca vaccines delivered to Ghana and Ivory Coast were produced in India.
Protocol arrangements have caused huge controversy in Northern Ireland
(PA)
It follows a high-profile fall-out in January, when the EU briefly attempted to trigger Article 16 of the Brexit withdrawal agreement’s protocol to impose controls on the supply of vaccines into Northern Ireland.
But Brussels swiftly backtracked and apologised after coming in for heavy criticism over the move – which came as it faced significant pressure over delays to the rollout of its vaccine programme.
UK-EU relations have run into trouble since then over Downing Street’s decision to unilaterally extend the grace period for fully implementing protocol arrangements contained in the Brexit agreement.
Brussels could initiate legal action against the UK over the unilateral action this week, it emerged on Wednesday.
According to Ireland’s RTE News, the European Commission is set to issue a formal notice to London in the coming days alongside a letter to the EU-UK Joint Committee, triggering the dispute settlement mechanism contained in the withdrawal agreement.
An EU source did not dispute the account of the legal action ahead when approached by The Independent.
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