Due to a lack of consensus on the Northern Hemisphere representative for the co-chairmanship of the Covax shareholders' council, the election that was due to take place on 18 March has been postponed to the week of 22-28 March, at a date yet to be confirmed, it was learned on Friday 19 March.
MEP Chrysoula Zacharopoulou (Renew Europe, France), vice-chair of the European Parliament’s Development Committee and European Parliament rapporteur for the future EU-Africa strategy is the EU’s candidate, following the withdrawal of the German candidate (see EUROPE 12678/7).
With its €2.2 billion contribution to Covax, the EU hoped that Ms Zacharopoulou could be elected by consensus.
This was to underestimate the effects of Brexit. The UK is indeed a candidate, in the person of David Nabarro, special envoy for Covid-19 at the WHO. Norway is also in the running, represented by Ambassador Arne Sannes Bjørnstad. And none of them withdrew.
On the side of the Southern Hemisphere countries, there was consensus on the person of the Colombian Minister of Health, Don Fernando Ruiz, who was the only candidate for the co-chairmanship.
The decision to postpone the vote did not, however, validate his candidacy. A tug of war could be brewing between the EU and the UK.
The Covax initiative is led by WHO, GAVI (the Vaccine Alliance) and CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)