VIENNA (Reuters) – The European Commission on Saturday defended its policy of distributing COVID-19 vaccines evenly in the block after Austria and five other member states complained that the doses were not evenly distributed.
In a joint letter to the Commission and the European Council, leaders of six European countries, including the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Latvia and later Croatia, called for discussions on vaccine distribution.
The Commission replied that doses are distributed according to the population of each country and taking into account epidemiological data, adding that it was up to Member State governments to decide how to share them.
Flexible policies agreed by EU governments meant that countries in a more acute phase of the epidemic would have access to more doses, if some governments chose not to include their pro rata allocation, the EU said. executive branch in a statement.
“It would be up to Member States to come to an agreement if they want to return to the pro rata basis,” he said, adding an allocation method based solely on a pro rata of the population of each EU. -land.
The Commission has been criticized for the slow introduction of vaccines into the bloc, even though EU governments are at the forefront of vaccine purchasing and vaccination plans.
On Friday, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said vaccine doses were not evenly distributed among member states, despite an agreement within the bloc to do so according to the population. He blamed, without offering any evidence, that separate agreements were made between the EU’s vaccination leadership and pharmaceutical companies.
The letter from Kurz and his colleagues, addressed to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel, called for “a European solution”.
“In recent days … we have discovered that … deliveries of vaccine doses by pharmaceutical companies to individual EU Member States are not carried out on an equal footing according to the prorated population key,” the letter said, published in Austrian media. .
“That is why we call on you, Charles, to have a discussion of this important issue among the leaders as soon as possible.”
Malta is on track to have three times more vaccine doses than Bulgaria by the end of June, Kurz said.
The letter did not mention the steering group, the body that negotiates with companies on vaccine deals on behalf of EU countries. The deputy head of the steering group is Austrian.
Opposition parties have accused Kurz of taking the blame for the slow rate of vaccination. The Social Democrats said he was looking for “scapegoats for his failure.”
An EU official said Michel had received the letter and a leaders summit was already scheduled for March 25-26.
“COVID coordination will be discussed again by the 27 members at that meeting,” said the official, without specifying whether that included the distribution of vaccines.
Michel’s office declined to comment.
Reporting by Francois Murphy; Additional reporting by Francesco Guarascio in Brussels, edited by Alexandra Hudson and Clelia Oziel