A senior European Union diplomat has been summoned to the Foreign Office in a row over coronavirus vaccine exports.
Nicole Mannion, Deputy Ambassador of the EU to the UK, attended the meeting this morning after Charles Michel, President of the European Council, accused Britain and the US of imposing bans on the movement of jags.
Last night, an irate Dominic Raab wrote to Mr Michel seeking to “set the record straight,” saying “any references to a UK export ban or any restrictions on vaccines are completely false”.
The Foreign Secretary insisted the UK Government had “not blocked a single Covid-19 vaccine or vaccine components,” adding: “We are all facing this pandemic together.”
Anger over the claim being repeated within the EU and the Commission, despite the UK correcting the record on each occasion, is understood to have led to the deputy ambassador being summoned to the Foreign Office.
A spokesman for the EU delegation said: “This morning Nicole Mannion, Deputy Ambassador of the EU to the UK and Charge d’Affaires at the EU Delegation to the UK attended a meeting at the request of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
“We have no further comment at this stage.”
As several EU member states come under political pressure over the comparatively slow rollout of vaccines on the continent, Mr Michel, in a newsletter on Tuesday, said he was “shocked” when he heard allegations of vaccine nationalism levelled at the EU, saying: “The facts do not lie.”
He added: “The United Kingdom and the United States have imposed an outright ban on the export of vaccines or vaccine components produced on their territory.
“But the European Union, the region with the largest vaccine production capacity in the world, has simply put in place a system for controlling the export of doses produced in the EU.”
A Government spokesman responded by insisting: “The UK Government has not blocked the export of a single Covid-19 vaccine. Any references to a UK export ban or any restrictions on vaccines are completely false.
“This pandemic is a global challenge and international collaboration on vaccine development continues to be an integral part of our response.”
In January, the EU briefly attempted to trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement to impose controls on vaccines.
But it swiftly backtracked after coming in for widespread criticism over the move, which came as it faced significant pressure over delays to the rollout of its vaccination programme.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel