he's probably talking about tourist's dublin, which is indeed quite a nice experience...

Belfast needs napalm if anything. Need to give that country back to Ireland ASAP

The EU created the power to stop shipments...

that is a fair statement, yes. but it left the decision to do so to its members. do you understand that?

I agree this particular case was Italian officials that enacted the power.

In your own opinion is it fair to say the EU is complicit in stopping shipments of vaccines?

Since after all they enabled the power. Also since Italy is a member state and contributing member to the EU apparatus.

Atrazeneca is a special case. The British factories were supposed to supply the EU. But their export of vaccines are being halted by deals made.

I feel fine about EU countries halting Astrazeneca produced in the EU, meant for countries that don't need them as badly. It also doesn't seem unique, as the US is mentioned to halt exports as well.

In this whole: "my country first" meta. The questions is which wealthy entity (apart from Russia) is going to start to sending surpluses to nations lower on the foodvaccine chain.

Right now it's mostly, wealthy buy, wealthy keep. Spread amongst the "west". We are going to need redistribution asap.

complicit sounds weirdly sinister, and implies some sort of wrongdoing. to be clear, the EU was obviously instrumental in stopping this particular shipment in this specific manner by creating the legal framework to do so. that does, however, not change the fact that the decision was up to italian officials, and that it has been the first time anyone made use of this mechanism. it's also worth mentioning that other countries / economic areas have their own mechanisms in place to control the trade of vital goods in emergency situations.

the moral question is a hard one, as italy was one of the major early covid hotspots in europe and suffered greatly. my personal opinion is that vaccines should go where they are most needed, and not to who paid the most to a company that made promises it knew it wouldn't be able to keep. it's particularly unfortunate considering we're talking about a vaccine that initially was promised to be freely available to everyone to be produced worldwide, which would have been my preferred scenario by far...

Not sure if I entirely agree with that narrative but I do agree countries less well of should be helped.
I've heard of COVAX

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-raises-1bn-so-vulnerable-countries-can-get-vaccine



Not intending to imply wrong doing, it does however feel very reactive by EU.
They didn't approve vaccines quickly, which could be said was a cautious and measured approach.
Other countries took a calculated risk by ordering vaccines before more rigorous testing.
Now the EU is looking to block shipments of vaccines to those nations.

The EU is trying to have its cake and eat it.

It was not long ago they claimed the AstraZeneca was ineffective and even dangerous to over 70's.
Now that testing has proven it is effective they are having to backtrack.
I've read that german health workers even refused that vaccine en mass.

It would not be inaccurate to say the EU made many mistakes in their initial handling of this situation.

The key word being "surpluses". Right now, the rich countries do not have surpluses of vaccines, and it would not be justifiable (or politically feasible!) for them to send relevant quantities of vaccines to poor countries while their own population isnt vaccinated yet and suffering from various degrees of lockdowns or restrictions as a result.




Regarding the blocked shipment: AZ agreed in its contracts with the EU to deliver a certain amount of vaccines to the EU and has failed to follow up on it. The delivery goals were attached to a "best efforts" clause, which was a huge lapse by the EU's negotiating team, and is the reason why the EU did not invoke export control until now. But when it comes to the shipment to Australia, the Italian government determined - rightfully in my opinion - that they violate the "best efforts to keep our promises to the EU"-clause.

I'm a bit indifferent on this move tbh. Ethically/morally/legally, the Italian government is probably in the right on this one, but it is of course a move which will lead to diplomatic tensions and the AZ vaccine is crap anyway.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Mar 5 2021 05:52pm

It has also been blocked because Australia is not considered a "vulnerable" country in the context of the pandemic.
So it's perfectly justified.