EU turns it's vaccine export blocking powers on Australia

[Suff]

After Italy complains.

Foot, aim, shoot. This kind of activity plays well with the locals, but has consequences on the world stay massively disproportionate to the actual action.

This will, one day, be over. The aftermath may just be a very brave new world with an entirely different demographic.

[TheOstrich]

It's the AZ Oxford vaccine which Italy has blocked from being exported to Australia.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56279202

Given that the major European countries have been so reluctant to roll out the AZ vaccine, and they must have loads of doses hanging around unused, it does seem somewhat churlish to block export to a country that will use them. Are they going to block the export of vaccines under the Covax scheme as well?

[Workingman]

It's an Italy thing, and a contractual thing.

The vaccine doses in question are being made in an Italian facility and AZ is only supplying 40% of the doses it is contracted to supply, so Italy has acted. The EU supports the Italian move.

If the doses were being made in Australia and it had banned the export because its AZ facility had not met its contractual obligations to Australia not a word would be said.

But, it's the EU, and as we all know the EU is bad, very bad, evil even.

[Suff]

Face facts WM, the EU totally screwed up the vaccine introduction and roll out. Then, to try and hide from the consequences, they started blaming all and sundry and then restricting vaccine delivery for themselves.

This is a good thing, because so far the EU has been seen as a place you can go to get large volume production reliably.

Now they are damaging their own reputation on the world stage. Even more so as few of the 3rd world will trust the EU for supply after this and, let us not forget, the AZD vaccine is the one not for profit vaccine expected for the 3rd world.

Stupid is as stupid does.

[Workingman]

Nice body swerve there, but that's normal..... If AZ was only supplying 40% of the doses it was contracted to supply to the UK from its production facilities in the UK the UK would be exporting them hither and dither: wouldn't it?

I don't get the infatuation some of you have with the EU. The perambulating haystsack, Mr Mophead, got Brexit done didn't he, so we're out. You won, didn't you? You don't get so galvanized with MERCOSUR, NAFTA, APEC or other trading blocs, do you? Never a word! You need to get out more, start drinking, take ownership and give it a rest about the EU.

[Suff]

I dunno WM. I know about Mercosur as it is personal and family. Also know that Brazil want to get the UK included, I suspect Argentina would have something fairly strong to say about that but Brazil is a bigger force without the colonial history.

NAFTA, APEC? We are not geographically compatible really. CTPP is another one but we are working our way into that right now.

The EU, though, is unfinished business. We still have a lot of left over garbage that was put on the back burner so we could get the important stuff done, like how the EU could continue to sell their high priced product into the UK without the UK being able to sell back or retaliate when they implemented stupid stuff.

So when we are negotiating it is worth understanding how the EU works with the rest of the world.

As you say, we are no longer at the table, we can no longer shape the decisions and we have no say. We are a 3rd country. So it's about time the people of the UK got themselves up to speed with what being a 3rd country to the EU really means. The EU is a bully led by incompetent bullies who think that just because they want to do something is both reason and justification for doing it.

Time to step up, learn who we are now forced to deal with and take appropriate actions.


China is a bully, Russia is a Bully and the US is also a bully. We have developed ways of coexisting with them. But we are exposed to the other bullies of the world far less than we are exposed to the EU.

So, for instance, if telling the EU to "go do one" over the NI protocol, is the appropriate answer to opening negotiations with them on banking equivalence, then we should do that and stop squawking about breaking international law. It didn't bother the EU to make the decision, they only backed down when it looked like rebellion inside the EU.

So understanding what the EU is doing over vaccines on the world stage is important to us. It aligns us with those other 3rd world countries and gives us the perspective to complete the remaining negotiations with the EU at the minimum risk to the UK.

What, exactly, is the issue with that? Knowledge is king and deliberately blinding ourselves to the true nature (and the true perception on the world stage), of the EU, only works in the favour of the EU. It does not work in the favour of the UK, or anyone else outside the EU for that matter.

[Workingman]

Oh dear, what a shame the above mentioned downsides were not front and centre of the Brexiteer sales pitch, and when the were mentioned by us sensible ones they got shouted down as "Project Fear!".

But never mind, you lot won so now we all have to live with that "win" and move on - really, move on. Constantly bitching and moaning about how the EU treats third countries (of which we are one) a. Solves nothing and b. Gets us nowhere with those massive trade deals with the Solomon Islands, Moldova and so on.

I do wonder how the TDs are coming on, but it is all very quiet.

[cromwell]

It is internal political pressure causing this.
The EU's faffing about with getting the vaccines sorted has come back to bite them.
For countries with populations anxiously waiting for the vaccines to show up (ie most of them) it can't be easy to see for instance, vaccines manufactured in Italy being exported to Australia when Italians are waiting to be vaccinated.
So politicians at a national level start blaming and leaning on the manufacturers; it's what politicians do.

[Suff]

So because we won and it is all "over", we can't talk about world events which include the EU? Because the spat between the EU (Italy triggered or not), and Australia is world news.

People in countries all over the world are saying "what a bunch of twats, was this really why the UK left? Do we really want to deal with them".

That is world news of world importance and presents an opportunity for those who do not have their heads in the sand.

You can bet the US is milking it for all it is worth.

[cromwell]

You can bet the US is milking it for all it is worth.

Why would that be Suff? Trade reasons? I thought Biden was going to be more chummy with the EU than Trump?