The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya , affirmed this Monday that AstraZeneca is not complying with its contractual obligations, when addressing the current controversy generated by the vaccine war between the community bloc and the London Government, and urged the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom to “work hand in hand” to ensure that the pharmaceutical company “delivers vaccines” to both parties.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is causing concern among the population. The EU resumes vaccination with AstraZeneca amid “non-compliance”, doubts and threats of blockade.
In an interview with the BBC from Brussels, González Laya recalled that the EU “has exported enormous quantities of vaccines to the United Kingdom in recent months, more than 10 million” and stressed that this issue “is not about the EU or the UK”. “The measures that the EU said it would adopt regarding export restrictions were aimed at making pharmaceutical companies comply with their obligations,” the policy said.
The president of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen , threatened last week with the possibility of suspending European exports of vaccines to producing countries, in clear allusion to the United Kingdom, in order to guarantee that European production is destined first to immunize community citizens.
“The reality, González Laya pointed out on Monday,” is that we have a pharmaceutical company, called AstraZeneca, which is not fulfilling its contractual obligations with the European Union. “Therefore, he added, ” the smartest thing would be for both the EU and the UK, who are both customers (of AstraZeneca), are working hand in hand to make sure AstraZeneca delivers vaccines to the EU and the UK . ”
Regarding this point, according to the minister, “this would be the most intelligent approach, since what is at stake here is vaccination. It is not going to treat other countries well or not.”
About this summer in Spain
Asked about how Spain is managing the pandemic, the minister replied that her country is preparing with summer as the “horizon” and said that, between now and summer, we must be “cautious”, since ” what we do in the coming weeks it will determine if we can enjoy summer again . ”
“(In Spain) we are managing the covid with care and the numbers are low although we are not out of danger yet, ” he added.
Asked also about the prospects for trips abroad , González Laya replied that, for now, she is not making plans “beyond the next two weeks”, but opts for “prudence.” “But what we need to do is go ahead with vaccinations .
This is what will ensure that we feel safe and more comfortable as the weeks go by and are prepared for the summer,” the policy noted while noting that, “Of course, this It will not be a summer like others we have known. ”
” Summer will be a little better than last summer, as long as we are cautious now , we continue with non-stop vaccinations. This is where the efforts of the Spanish Government are now focused and surely the summer will be better and we will be happy to receive British tourists , as always, “he added.
