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Ursula von der Leyen accidentally spoke out in favor of Brexit while apologizing to Europe for the slow pace of their vaccine rollout today – admitting that solo countries can get things done faster.
To justify why weeks or months after Britain signed contracts for Covid vaccines, the EU said on Friday that countries acting alone are “like a speedboat” while the EU is “more like a tanker.”
After a week in which von der Leyen threatened the drug manufacturer AstraZeneca with the delivery of his sting, she also had to admit that she had “underestimated” problems with the manufacture and introduction of the vaccines.
Von der Leyen also said she “regrets” the threat to block vaccine exports to the UK by imposing a hard border in Ireland, saying “We shouldn’t even have thought about it.” [it]’.
Ursula von der Leyen inadvertently advanced the Brexit argument when she apologized for the slow adoption of vaccines in the EU, admitting that solo countries can get things done faster
The UK has far outperformed EU countries in introducing vaccines, which saw 14 percent of the total population stung, compared with an average of just over 2 percent in Europe
The 64-year-old also admitted she made a mistake when she promised that 70 percent of Europeans would be vaccinated by the end of summer, a goal that now seems almost impossible to achieve.
In a group interview published on Friday with the Süddeutsche Zeitung and other European branches, she added: “We should have explained that things are moving slowly and that there will be problems and delays in these completely new procedures.”
However, she continued to insist that it was still right to let the EU negotiate on behalf of the 27-member bloc.
“I cannot even imagine what it would have meant for Europe in terms of unity if one or more Member States had access to vaccines and not the others,” she said.
The introduction of vaccines in Europe has been plagued by delays and delivery problems, with the continent having vaccinated just over 2 percent of its population so far, compared with more than 14 percent in the UK and 8 percent in the US.
Von der Leyen was also forced to admit “regret” last week over an extraordinary spit with the UK and drug maker AstraZeneca, saying it was not responsible
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