1/A fascinating article which shows how the EU prioritised solidarity with the smallest EU members, liability for the drug makers - higher for those making a profit, lower for others- & saving money to EU taxpayers. In the name of solidarity it persuaded France, Germany, Italy https://twitter.com/tconnellyRTE/status/1354724419952898049

2/&the Netherlands who had signed a contract in early June with AZ to pass it over to the EU. The price of solidarity & tough EU Parliament instructions on no waiver of liability for profits making vaccine makers & "value for money" is that they privileged other contracts.

3/AZ has more explaining to do. On June 13, the quartet of France, Germany, the Netherlands & Italy— known as the “Inclusive Vaccine Alliance” — announced a deal for between 300 million and 400 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab.

4/AZ has explained the UK faster delivery by the fact it signed its contract earlier but did not address the fact that AZ had signed this agreement with the Inclusive Vaccine Alliance in June, only a month after it struck a manufacturing deal with the U.K.

5/On the whole a rather inspiring story but very sad to see that good intentions & solidarity with smaller countries led to the current situation. The Commission wasn't always slower thanks to streamlined process.Van der Leyen helped to raise USD8 billions for the WHO when Trump

6/had just pulled out funding from WHO & put USD10 billions into Warp Speed instead. On the whole the EU has nothing to be ashamed of. It behaved well. It will hopefully be done better & faster with less constraints put on the Commission's negotiating mandate next time.

7/For the smaller countries, it is a no brainer. For France, Germany, Italy& NL it is a big sacrifice. And it will perhaps cost lives eventhough Macron is said to be firmly persuaded that they wouldn't necessarily have done better on their own & Germany was mindful of the

8/political consequences of an unseemly battle for vaccines. And it could pay-off if there is an issue with a vaccine or if it encourages more people to get vaccinated./END

PS: not a defense of the EU's conduct in recent days. It badly overeacted