The Diplomat
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez yesterday in Porto, called on EU leaders not to let the United States lead the debate on access to Covid-19 vaccines.
During his speech at the social summit held in the Portuguese city, Sánchez described US President Joe Biden’s request to suspend patents on vaccines as a “good initiative”, but said it would not be enough.
The same idea was present in the speeches of other European leaders who criticised the obstacles that the United States places on the export of vaccines from its territory and called on Washington to lift these barriers before opening the debate on the temporary suspension of patents. Similar criticisms were levelled at the UK.
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, pointed out that the liberalisation of patents is not the “magic solution”, while the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stated that the EU is “the pharmacy of the world” and called for the production and export effort undertaken by the EU-27 to be taken into account.
In the same vein, French President Emmanuel Macron argued that the EU has been the “most generous” region during the pandemic because it has been at the forefront of exports and donations of vaccines against the coronavirus, and urged the United States to make equivalent commitments.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has always been opposed to patent liberalisation, insisted that this is not the solution to making vaccines available to more people, and called for “the creativity and innovation of companies”.
Pedro Sánchez, meanwhile, urged his European partners for the EU to lead the debate on vaccines “not only by sharing knowledge,” he said, “but also by increasing production and ensuring rapid distribution”.
Sánchez added that his government advocates a European Health Union and considers the issue of universal access to vaccines “an unavoidable priority”.
For months the EU has resisted initiating debate on the need to suspend intellectual property protection for coronavirus vaccines, but Biden’s gesture this week endorsing a temporary suspension of patents forced the EU-27 to take up the issue in Porto.
Liberalisation of vaccine patents was one of the measures that Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, which is currently facing a serious health crisis over a variant of COVID-19, had called for from the EU.
Yesterday, European leaders held a videoconference meeting with Modi and, although they did not meet his demand, they conveyed their solidarity and commitment to support the country in its efforts to tackle the spread of the coronavirus. Recently, the European Union announced the disbursement of 2.2 million euros in aid to India through the World Health Organisation (WHO) to increase the means to care for the sick and also to carry out tests, while more than ten member states, including Spain, provided essential equipment such as respirators.
The EU-27 also agreed with India to relaunch negotiations to establish a Free Trade Agreement, negotiations that will be held in parallel with talks to conclude agreements on the protection of investments and geographical indications.
