‘Disgrace’: EU chief Michel savaged for UK vaccine slur ‘Misinformation, deflection, lies’
BRITAIN has pledged far more cash to world vaccination programmes than the European Commission, a new report has suggested - despite European Council President Charles Michel's claims to the contrary. And Facts4EU has launched a scathing attack on the former Belgian Prime Minister, describing his “non-apology” on the subject as a “disgrace”. The think tank initiated their analysis after a bitter war of words erupted between Mr Michel and Dominic Raab, the UK’s Foreign Secretary, last week..
First Mr Michel lashed out at Britain, claiming it had imposed a “total ban” on vaccine exports, adding: “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.”
Mr Raab then hit back to “set the record straight” about what he called the “false claim”, insisting: “The UK Government has not blocked the export of a single COVID-19 vaccine or vaccine components.”
In an apparent attempt to defuse the row, Mr Michel subsequently remarked: “Glad if the UK reaction leads to more transparency and increased exports, to EU and third countries.
“Different ways of imposing bans or restrictions on vaccines/medicines.
“EU is providing vaccines for its citizens and the rest of the world.”
In its latest report, Facts4EU examined the latest figures from the Vaccines Alliance, which operates COVAX, the effort to provide vaccines to all of the developing and poorer countries around the world.
Between 2021 and 2025, total contributions pledged by the UK stand at almost £529million, significantly more than the £352million promised by the Commission. Mr Michel’s country has pledged £3.6million.
Leigh Evans, Facts4EU’s editor-in-chief, told Express.co.uk: “It seems that these days the EU’s apparatchiks just can’t stop making blunders.
“This latest howler from the President of the EU’s most august and powerful body, the EU Council, is another in an increasingly long line of faux-pas.”
