Ahead of the sixth EU-AU Summit, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will participate remotely on Wednesday 16 February in the conference on ‘Vaccine Equity for Africa’ organised in Marburg by the kENUP Foundation on behalf of the German company BioNTech.
A spokeswoman, Dana Spinant, said on Monday 14 February that Ms von der Leyen would not travel to Marburg after all, but would broadcast “a video message”.
BioNTtech plans to develop its experimental mRNA vaccine against malaria and tuberculosis in local facilities for distribution in Africa with the support of the European Commission, EU Member States and the EIB, which have already pledged €1 billion for this purpose.
It was as part of this plan that an additional €125 million in aid was announced by Ms von der Leyen to Senegal for the production of BioNTech vaccines (see EUROPE 12888/1).
At the end of August 2021, Ms von der Leyen participated in a similar event in Berlin, together with the presidents of Rwanda and Senegal and the CEO of BioNTech, alongside the G20 conference on the ‘Compact with Africa’ organised by Angela Merkel (see EUROPE 12778/8).
On Friday 11 February, the press had asked why the Commission President was announced in Marburg when her participation in the debate on the ‘rule of law’ conditionality regulation, on the same day in the European Parliament, was not confirmed, questioning Ms von der Leyen’s neutrality.
“There are manufacturers willing to invest in Africa. This does not exclude any other company. We will be very happy to join forces with private partners and international organisations to support production”, said Ms Spinant. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)