thread

CRUNCH TIME?

1. Make your mind up time for the Govt. I think.

Whether it's worth continuing with the constraints imposed under the WA & NI Protocol, or whether the EU hostilities aimed at the UK are a step too far.

2. The dislike for the UK drips from Regulation (EU) 2021/111, where the EU expresses solidarity with the countries not subject to its vaccine export authorisation procedures.

3. Gove's response to the Article 16 procedure (or rather lack of) & subsequent Regulation to my mind shows a Govt. running out of patience with the EU shenanigans.

4. My view is we may well see a legal instrument introducing those controversial clauses in the IMB again, if there isn't a timely & constructive response from the EU.

5. The WA/Protocol & the FCA are either worth the effort or they aren't. Currently the benefits are difficult to see & the spirit of cooperation has evaporated into a hissy fit of jealousy over the Oxford AZ vaccines.

6. As the only not for profit vaccine currently available, it can be offered to countries who otherwise couldn't afford to purchase vaccines.

It is a gesture of good will to the world & that gesture eats away at the EU - they know it may open doors for UK trade in the future.