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LAST UPDATE | 10 Feb 2021
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION President Ursula von der Leyen has said she “deeply regrets” a decision to propose invoking Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol in a row over Covid-19 vaccines.
The proposal was withdrawn hours after being made public, and following much criticism from Ireland, Northern Ireland and Britain.
Speaking at a European Parliament meeting today, EuroParlRadio reported that von der Leyen said: “The bottom line is that mistakes were made in the process leading up to the decision, and I deeply regret that.
“But, in the end we got it right. And I can reassure you that my Commission will do its utmost to protect the peace of Northern Ireland, just as it has done throughout the entire Brexit process.”
Article 16 overrides part of the NI Protocol which prevents a hard border on the island of Ireland, and was intended as an emergency measure only to be used in “serious” circumstances.
A spokesperson for the Commission suggested to TheJournal.ie that the triggering of Article 16 wouldn’t have resulted in checks on the island of Ireland, but would require documentation before vaccines are shipped to Ireland.
European Affairs Minister Thomas Byrne yesterday said the Irish government is seeking a new safety clause to prevent other suggestions for using Article 16.
Von der Leyen is attending the European Parliament today to face questions from MEPs about the EU’s plan to rollout the Covid-19 vaccine.
Four Irish MEPs addressed the European Commission chief in the European Parliament today, with all MEPs raising the Article 16 blunder.
Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher said that the “how, who and why” around the decision needed to be answered.
“I also need to ask you three questions: how was the decision arrived at, who made the decision, and why.
“These are fundamental questions, because we do need to put in place mechanisms to ensure that Commissions in the future would not make similar mistakes. We are paying with a very sensitive issue on the island of Ireland.
Green MEP Grace O’Sullivan said that, despite von der Leyen’s assertion that “we got it right in the end”, that the Commission “did not get it right”.
“What concrete steps will you put in place to ensure the people of Ireland, north and south, that the delegate situation is never threatened again?”
Sinn Féin’s Chris MacManus said that it was “unacceptable” that the implications of suggesting to trigger Article 16 wasn’t foreseen, and asked for assurances that the “fiasco wouldn’t be repeated”.
Fine Gael’s Sean Kelly said that assurances were needed that this would not happen again, “because it must not happen again”.
Europe has logged a third of the more than 2.3 million lives lost globally to the virus, which is spreading rapidly despite the start of vaccinations in many nations and forcing the reimposition of unpopular and economically punishing restrictions.
Leaders of the European Union have been engaged in bitter public rows with pharmaceutical firms over supply shortages, as they faced public anger and scrutiny over slow vaccination rollouts in member states.
Vaccine supply issues have already caused a diplomatic row after AstraZeneca said it would not be able to immediately ship the doses it promised to Britain and the EU.
At the same time, the resurgence of infections across the continent is adding to the pressure on EU leadership.
A stricter lockdown will be imposed in Greece from tomorrow, in particular in the Athens region, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said, warning that his country was facing a third Covid-19 wave.
Wary of infection numbers exploding again, German Chancellor Angela Merkel will seek to extend strict curbs at least until the end of February as fatigue grows with the partial lockdown in Europe’s top economy.
The heaviest snow in years also added to woes in Europe with transport and infrastructure hit in Germany and Britain.
Some coronavirus vaccination centres in England were forced to close — including major hubs in Ipswich and Colchester.
No breakthrough on virus origin
A much-anticipated World Health Organization inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus wrapped up its mission in China yesterday. They failed to identify which animal may have passed it to humans.
The experts said there was “no indication” the virus was circulating in the ground-zero city of Wuhan before December 2019, when the first official cases were recorded.
WHO expert Peter Ben Embarek also scotched a controversial theory that the virus had leaked from a Wuhan lab, calling it “extremely unlikely”.
China has been ramping up efforts to highlight its role in overcoming the pandemic, including the development of Covid-19 vaccines that have helped start shots in many parts of the world — including hard-hit South America.
Peru yesterday began its immunisation programme with 300,000 doses of the vaccine developed by China’s Sinopharm.
Argentina, meanwhile, said it had given emergency authorisation to the Indian-made version of the AstraZeneca vaccine, following its approval of Russia’s Sputnik V jab.
Bolivia has also been using Sputnik V as it battles a surge in infections, although health workers in its worst-hit region began a two-day strike yesterday to demand a lockdown.
And in hard-hit Brazil, businesses and non-profit groups announced a plan to speed up the government’s troubled immunisation drive, with the goal of vaccinating the entire country by September.
Valentine’s Day worries
Along with mass vaccinations, researchers and engineers around the world are searching for other ways to help end the pandemic and return life to normal — especially international travel.
Tech-savvy Estonia is working on a pilot project with the WHO on how a globally recognised electronic vaccine certificate might work, including addressing concerns about security and privacy.
A more immediate concern for authorities in many countries this week is Valentine’s Day, with fears that the upcoming celebrations could lead to a surge in infections.
Authorities in Thailand’s capital Bangkok announced the city would not register marriages on Valentine’s Day, a popular day for weddings.
In Brussels, however, where restaurants are closed, some hotels have converted rooms into private dining salons for two.
“We’re over the moon about being here tonight, just like in a restaurant,” said Marine Deroo, a 34-year-old who tried out the concept ahead of Valentine’s Day.
- © AFP 2021 with reporting by Órla Ryan
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Nobody resigns in that place just like cat home in Ireland. I think they use the excuse ( We will learn lessons )
@Maurice O Neill: world wide problem and have a pop at Ireland, well I live in Ireland and its a great country and proud to be Irish.
@daniel roche: I think his point is that these people are highly paid to do their jobs and if they can’t do their jobs they should be remove, it happens in most other countries.
@daniel roche: Doh……….
@daniel roche: Uk is a great Country
@Maurice O Neill: which particular cat home in Ireland are you referring to? And to be honest, most cats live a very comfortable life, so I doubt we will hear calls for resignations in the feline community
@Jack Cass: except ireland where highly paid politicians brazen out scandals until the goldfish population get outraged by something new…it usually takes about a week.
@Maurice O Neill: The UK isn’t a country! Its a collection of them
@daniel roche: I’m not Irish but proud to live here. However that doesn’t say that everything is always hunky dory. Nothing wrong to name the flaws and still being very content with this lovely country.
@NotMyIreland: It is a country state and a collection of countries. Slightly odd but it’s correct to say both.
@Hans Vos: Good man. Happy to have you here. We only improve anything by pointing out its flaws.
@Jack Cass: his always moaning.
@Maurice O Neill: I don’t live there, I heard a few countries are great places to live too.
@Robert Preston:??????
@Hans Vos: 100% agree with you but this article had nothing to do what Ireland done wrong.
@Steve Creaton: I stand corrected, thanks.
@daniel roche: Still I only commented to your comment.:)
@Jack Cass: Certainly doesn’t happen in the US or the U.K. If the US did what VDL did it would just be another scandal to add to thousands.
@daniel roche: without a doubt the most corrupt country in Western Europe. Look at the housing problem. Stop building and now paying of billions of euros worth of landlord mortgages with one in four TDS owning a second or more property,. Payed of the banks and bailed out all the builders with the tax payer footing the bill. It’s just corruption on a massive scale. Constantly paying millions of euro for projects that never get past planning. Well over 2 billion to build the children’s hospital. You could build over 6 aviva stadiums and the aviva was actually very very expensive compared to other stadia in uk and Europe. Their actions can’t be defended.
@Mark Dit: very true but to be fair the current political parties in the government have not suffered any fall out from the poor running of the country. Even though FFs following has suffered their leader is still the leader of the country. We as Irish people must accept some responsibility. Change will come at the ballot box. It’s partly up to us.
She made trip across 3 countries from Brussels last August to her holiday home during lockdown. This was within days of Phil Hogan resigning. Kept very quiet in the media.
Speaks volumes about Ursula IMO.
@Lotus: Source ? Big if true
@Kiern Mcx:
Her driver drove 7 hours from Belgium to Hamburg through Netherlands to her holiday home in August last for a weekend break and back.
Was a hot topic in Netherlands at the time. Definitely read it in Irish papers also.
She also is controversial in Germany for releasing e100 million of public money to private defense advisors for military weapons .
@Lotus:
PS:
She probably deeply regrets both of those actions as well.
She comes from a Political Dynasty very entrenched in the EU Hierarchy.
Talk about an ‘own goal’ by the EU Commission. Von der Leyen should be removed, but that is unlikely. France and Germany pull the strings in the EU, and Ireland isn’t considered important.
@Philip Mulville: it’s an EU27 and I know it goes against your beliefs but all strategy, policies and laws need the the approval of all 27 members. And the other 26 stood with us over the land border issue. Triggering article 16 was a mistake and even Barnier challenged her. The big guys will always get to pull some strings but nothing that effects a decision required by all 27 members.
@Philip Mulville: if Ireland wasn’t important they would have triggered the clause, no? Just an observation.
@Paul Furey: however the point that she should resign is still totally valid. Her public row with AZ and the Article 16 debacle reflected more than a sense of panic. She is unsuited for the job and the other countries should be pressuring for her replacement.
@Paul Furey: Paul, you don’t know anything about my beliefs, so don’t assume that you do.
@Philip Mulville: not important but once Ireland complained it was dropped, well done Ireland
@Paul Furey: the other 26 stood with us?? Yeah, like during the financial crisis? The EU has done some good things but this uncritical blue flag waving nonsense is ridiculous. Suggest you also research how pressure is being put on to introduce more qualified majority voting in many more competencies which will diminish Irish autonomy even more.
@daniel roche: it was like they stuck a gun to our head but didn’t pull the trigger because passers by started shouting. We weren’t even informed of the original decision which is deeply worrying for our national interest in the future.
@Valthebear: Why should 26 EU or actually 27 other EU countries stand with Ireland when their national banking system destroyed their own economy. All the anti EU critics who regularly post on here including you seem to have some sort of major issue because the EU didn’t bail out Irish banks. It’s just like me squandering my life savings in a casino on a binge and then running to the government expecting them to cover my losses and reckless stupidity.
It wasn’t the EU which caused the financial crisis in Ireland it was reckless, unchecked lending by Irish banks and rubber stamped by the Irish Central bank. That the government covered the banks losses is not the EUs fault. When you whinge where were the other 26 EU members when the Irish banking system folded, what did you expect the poor basket to be passed around for their tax money to bail out Irish banks? Go and take your issues out at source instead of blaming the EU for anything you don’t like in this country. You and your Westbrit chums are like broken records! I would swear you alternate between different accounts!
@Paul Furey: Actually less & less require unanimity. As more & more competences are delegated to the EU less and less recourse to member states will be made as the integration project rolls onwards & upwards to a United States with power projection to match its status.
Like in Ireland, they “talk the talk” but “won’t walk the walk”.
@Jack Cass: Ireland does nothing wrong, let’s have a go at Ireland.
So when is she going to resign
Total failure and whoever went there should be sacked with immediate effect.
Von Der lame duck
Mairead McGuinness needs to explain why she was totally ignored about this decision?
“But, in the end we got it right” – no they didn’t. In the end they triggered tensions at the port in Belfast. Who knows which way it will go from now on. This mistake is not revocable.
Even for a ‘Joe Soap’ like myself when I first heard it on the radio that Friday late afternoon it sent a shiver down my spine and I had immediate ‘flash forwards’ of Arlene and her fellows slapping their hands together with big grins on their faces having been handed an opportunity they could hardly have dreamed of.
However I am a bit mystified as to the logic behind the calls for Von der Leyen to resign or be sacked.
A mistake was made and rectified and apoligised for almost immediately and to be honest for an incident which hardly registered as even an issue in 95% of the EU.
If everytime a politician made a mistake they had to resign the world would become ungovernable.
Justin Trudeau, Pedro Sánchez, Boris Johnson, Giuseppe Conte, Mette Frederiksen, Stefan Lofven to name but a few who would have gone in the last year.
Resignation / dismissal shouldn’t be the knee jerk, immediate reaction when someone makes a mistake.
@Stanley Marsh: But this wasn’t just a little mistake, it was a major own goal and clearly said without any thought of the ramifications. She has single handedly put the ball on art. 16 back into the hands of the Unionists and British Government who now have carte Blanche to talk about invoking it whenever they like and they have already started doing so with Arlene thinking its only a matter of time….. What UVdL did was damaging to the peace process and added fuel to the very volatile fire that is NI.
@Dara Mac Fhionnain: But extreme, she put it in the table and removed it again.. that’s it!! Story over
EU cocked up badly and in the normal world someone would be held accountable. The buck stops at the boss.
At
Funny how Britain sneaked AstraZeneca vaccine across the border during the transition, they even hid the lorry’s identity. They then made sure that the manufacturing plants in the UK only manufacture for the UK and not deliver to the EU. Its a deliberate and nasty thing to do, but not illegal. The EU were caught blindsided on that one and tried to stop vaccine leaving EU border which led to her mistake with Northern Ireland as the next destination for AstraZeneca vaccine is for Northern Ireland. USA only manufactures for the USA too, the EU must be asking themselves how they let vaccine leave EU borders in the first place letting this situation arise.
She’s let the cat out of the bag. Well done – kinda shows eu we’re only really paying lip service to good Friday agreement and the protocol. If it does not involve or affect France or Germany Europe couldn’t give a toss.
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