The European Commission continues its communication campaign to defend its management of Covid-19. After giving several interviews which assumed a slower start in Europe than in other parts of the world, the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, appealed to European leaders for unity on Tuesday 2 February.
More specifically, it is a letter co-signed with the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, whose country currently holds the Presidency of the EU Council, and of which EUROPE received a copy .
The aim is clear: to counter criticism from capitals relayed by the national media that the Commission has pre-ordered too few doses of Covid-19 vaccine and that the European Medicines Agency has been too slow to express itself.
The letter from Ms von der Leyen and Mr Costa emphasises that the launch of the vaccination campaigns throughout Europe in the same year represents a remarkable and unprecedented success. However, it acknowledges difficulties in vaccine production that have forced governments to deal with little foresight and limited planning capacity.
In this context, the two representatives call on the EU27 to continue to engage with manufacturers with whom the Commission has negotiated advance purchase agreements. They also stress the importance of preparing for new variants and future risks, recalling the Commission’s work on a biodefense pilot programme.
This call for unity should be read in the light, in particular, of recent orders placed by Hungary with manufacturers with whom the Commission has not (yet) concluded contracts, namely the Russian Sputnik V vaccine and the Chinese vaccine.
In addition, several countries (France, Poland, Sweden, Italy and Germany) have adopted different recommendations from those of the European Medicines Agency for the AstraZeneca vaccine, by precluding the elderly. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)