EUCO Sidesteps Big Decisions At Thursday's Summit

Yesterday we highlighted three of the major vaccine-related issues that were likely to dominate the first day of the European Council's virtual summit: vaccine export bans, internal distribution of vaccines in the EU, and whether to place orders for Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.

• On the issue of vaccine export bans (focused primarily at the UK, which the EU accuses of taking imports of doses produced in the EU but not reciprocating in kind), the blocissued a communique regarding all issues discussed with vaguely-worded section on vaccine exports saying that, "We underline the importance of transparency as well as of the use of export authorizations. We recognize the importance of global value chains and reaffirm that companies must ensure predictability of their vaccine production and respect contractual delivery deadlines." The Times reports that the emphasis on 'global value' chains came at the behest of Belgium and the Netherlands (backed by Germany), keen to avoid a trade war or damaging the investment appeal of their countries. As such, the situation remains as it was before the summit, with the EU having 'all options on the table', including vaccine export bans, but choosing not to use them.
• On the internal distribution of vaccines, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz launched a broadside at the vaccine distribution mechanism, arguing for more vaccines for countries with low rates of immunisiation (as well as Austria, which exceeds the EU average). The Council did not agree to Kurz's demand to include adjustments to the existing allocation principle, but instead took the unorthodox decision of tasking EU ambassadors to come up with a solution to distributing the additional 10mn Pfizer doses due in Q221.
• The issue of the Sputnik vaccine did not come up at all in the communique. The presence of US President Joe Biden, dialing into the videoconference in the evening, may have deterred some member state heads from pushing for orders to be submitted for the as-yet unapproved Russian vaccine.