UK ‘speedboat’ or EU ‘tanker’?

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana

“Vaccine war” I referred to in my piece in The Island of 2nd February has taken an interesting turn. The headline in The Guardian, the most anti-Brexit of all the British newspapers, sums it all: “Ursula von der Leyen: UK is Covid vaccine ‘speedboat’ compared with EU ‘tanker’.”

The Guardian goes on to state: “Ursula von der Leyen has said a country on its own such as the UK can act more like a “speedboat” than the EU “tanker” but that the 27 governments are right to work together on their vaccination programme. The European Commission President admitted to mistakes along the way in the rollout of vaccines, including failing to invest sufficiently in upscaling production capacity. She also conceded that the Commission “underestimated the difficulties” it would face and should have warned the public in advance of the likely ‘ups and downs’.”

It looks as if the truth had slipped out of her mouth inadvertently! Some may wonder who this Ursula is? She is virtually the CEO of EU and former Defence Minister of Germany, commanding the unstinted support of Angela Merkel. To understand her proper role, one has to understand the complex structure of the EU which has three presidents on top of ‘the presidency of the Council of the European Union’. Although sometimes incorrectly referred to as the “President of the European Union”, the presidency is not an individual, but a position held by a national government and is responsible for the functioning of the Council of the European Union, the upper house of the EU legislature. It rotates among the member states of the EU every six months. The presidency’s function is to chair meetings of the Council, determine its agendas, set a work programme and facilitate dialogue both at Council meetings and with other EU institutions.

The ‘other’ three Presidents are:

1.

The President of the European Parliament who presides over the debates and activities of the European Parliament and represents the Parliament within the EU and internationally. The President’s signature is required for enacting most EU laws and the EU budget.

2.

The President of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council, as well as being the principal representative of the EU on the world stage. The European Council, which provides political direction to the EU, is the college of heads of state or government of EU member states plus the President of the European Commission. The present holder is the Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel.

3.

The President of the European Commission heads the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union. The President of the Commission leads a Cabinet of Commissioners, referred to as the College, collectively accountable to the European Parliament. The President is empowered to allocate portfolios among, reshuffle or dismiss, Commissioners if necessary. The College directs the Commission’s civil service, sets the policy agenda and determines the legislative proposals it produces. The Commission is the only body that can propose EU laws. Ursula is the present holder of this post.

‘No wonder EU is a tanker’ one might say and a cynic may add ‘top-heavy one at that’! With the envisaged common defence force, perhaps, there may be a fourth President; the President of EU defence forces! The UK joined the European Communities, which included the Common Market in 1973 and this was approved by a referendum in 1975 with 67.2% voting for it but 51.9% voted in 2016 for leaving EU. Maybe, they, Brits, preferred a speedboat to a top-heavy tanker!

One of the regular political commentators has written an interesting piece “Vaccine Nationalism” (The Island, 6th February). After having had his AZ vaccine, most likely in the UK, he states that he could write, with godlike impartiality, who else should get the vaccine. I am not too sure about the impartiality of gods, as god-believers tell us that if we do not believe in their god we are condemned to eternal damnation! Whilst, I wholeheartedly agree with him that we cannot expect a quick end to this pandemic unless vaccination against Covid-19 is a global effort, I am confused by some of his suggestions.

He suggests that the UK “should share its supply from AstraZeneca to save the lives of elderly French and Danes and Greeks than devoting it all to its relatively safe middle-aged people. Firstly, taking the lead from President Macron, who made derogatory comments about the AZ vaccine, most EU countries are limiting this vaccine to under 65s in spite of the EU regulatory authority approving it for all age groups, making this suggestion inappropriate. Secondly, it was the same writer himself who wrote a piece sometime back “EU: Free at last” expressing his great relief that the EU was free from UK, the very same EU which has failed its elderly! Thirdly, instead of lifting the phone to Boris Johnson, Ursula von der Leyen decided to impose a border on Northern Ireland. Is this the diplomacy of an EU, free at last! I am surprised, perhaps I should not be, that not a word is mentioned about the failings of EU.

Honouring his country of birth, he compliments Justin Trudeau for agreeing to share excess doses of the vaccine and says that the UK should do the same. Wonder why he did not hear the UK government’s declaration that it was prepared to share surplus doses with the closest neighbour, Ireland!

It this a case of supporting the tanker whilst benefitting from the speedboat!