The current practice of unequal access to coronavirus vaccines by European Union member states needs to be corrected, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said at a press conference with the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Bulgaria in Vienna on Tuesday.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (Photo: MTI / EPA / Christian Bruna)
The prime ministers – Czech Andrej Babis, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, and Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov – agreed with the Austrian chancellor’s statement. It has been said that there is a need to return to the previous agreement of heads of government of EU member states, that is, to distribute vaccines to the population.
Kurtz emphasized that the aim of their joint action was not to find a scapegoat, but to impose the much-expressed principle of European solidarity and to find a common European solution to the problem.
He added that the President of the European Council,
Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, Chair of the Committee, supported the initiative of Heads of Government,
And a discussion of a potential solution later this week – by video. “Pharmaceutical companies not only fail to meet promised deadlines and quantities, but also the principle of proportional distributionBoyko Borissov said.
„If this continues, then by June, we will have vaccinations of 30 percent in some countries and 60 percent in others. We are still in time to prevent the legitimate resentment and political crisis that directly arises from this disparityJanice said Jansa.
André Babis explained:
The Union’s original plan to achieve a summer vaccination rate of 70% of Europe’s population could only be realized if they reverted to the original distribution principle.
In addition to the four prime ministers, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and Latvian Prime Minister Chrisjanis Karens joined the talks before the briefing via video link.
They all agreed that a just solution must be found to the current situation, because Europe can only successfully overcome the crisis caused by the Coronavirus if it does not separate from the principle of European solidarity.
