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I cannot assess whether the EU has to be blamed for ordering too much / little vaccine, but the public row about this issue follows common patterns & illustrates the problems of EU politicization. A thread 
(1/10)
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Vaccine procurement is a perfect case to be (mis)used for responsibility attributions (blame & credit) to the EU: Due to the issue's high complexity, need for expertise (procurement, public health, epidemology) & fundamental uncertainty, general public can hardly assess. (2/10)
As public cannot rely on own assessment, it takes cues from media, political parties & experts - who all have their own & varied agendas, of course. Often these actors (e.g. media, parties) can also not assess competently, but many offer simple heuristics to readers: (3/10)
Replace the hard question "How well has the EU managed this thing?" with a seemingly easier question, in particular "Does EU usually manage things better than our government does?". Most people have an intuitive answer available to this question (aka Kahneman's system 1). (4/10)
This intuitive answer is based on predispositions about EU. My system 1 answer is "Yes, EU > national gov" but this answer is no better than the "No, EU < national gov" answer others might have. Problem: Both neither address the actual question nor evidence related to it. (5/10)
Think of alternative issues: EU cutting CO2 emission allowances, EU banning single-use plastics, EU adopting law on gender balance in companies. We have immediate opinions & attribute blame/credit. But would we change mind bc media/parties tell us nat gov is better at it? (6/10)
Likely less so. Many have made up minds about these issues, formed opinions. We will not accept "does EU usually manage things better than gov?" as the relevant question for plastic bans. To be sure: We still blame/credit EU, but we can be less manipulated in our views. (7/10)
Historically, EU issues are highly technocratic, requiring expertise. We have little preconceptions of such issues & blame game can unfold. Think of famous EU cucumber reg: "Are straight cucumbers good?" replaced by "Do you personally care about cucumbers' cuvature?"..NO! (8/10)
Politicization by media / challenger parties renders such issues salient & enables blame game. But it also provides necessary public & democratic scrutiny. Perhaps the best we & good journalists can do: Make sure the right questions are asked & answered. Engage system 2. (9/10)
And read @sarahobolt Tilley (2014) & @CatherineDVries (2018), who tell you everything you need to know about responsibility attributions to the EU & how heuristics comparing EU/national level can trigger Euroscepticism 
. (10/10)
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/blaming-europe-9780199665686?q=hobolt%20tilley&lang=en&cc=us
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/euroscepticism-and-the-future-of-european-integration-9780198793380?cc=us&lang=en&facet_narrowbybinding_facet=Hardback&view=Grid&type=listing&facet_narrowbytype_facet=Books%20for%20Courses&prevNumResPerPage=20&subjectcode1=1793239|AHU00010
. (10/10)https://global.oup.com/academic/product/blaming-europe-9780199665686?q=hobolt%20tilley&lang=en&cc=us
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/euroscepticism-and-the-future-of-european-integration-9780198793380?cc=us&lang=en&facet_narrowbybinding_facet=Hardback&view=Grid&type=listing&facet_narrowbytype_facet=Books%20for%20Courses&prevNumResPerPage=20&subjectcode1=1793239|AHU00010
