Vaccine dispute: No EU controls in Northern Ireland

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London / Brussels (dpa) - In the vaccine dispute with Great Britain, the EU has tried to smooth things over again.

"Constructive talks with Prime Minister Boris Johnson," tweeted Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday night.

"In principle, we have agreed that there should be no restrictions on the export of vaccines by companies if they meet their contractual obligations."

In response to massive delivery cuts by vaccine manufacturer Astrazeneca, the EU wants to monitor more closely how much vaccine produced in the EU is exported to.

In an initial statement, however, it sounded as if Brussels wanted to carry out controls on the Irish-Northern Irish border for this project and thus activate an emergency mechanism of the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol.

The move, which was apparently not coordinated with either Dublin or London, aroused outrage in Great Britain and especially in Northern Ireland.

With this step, the EU probably wanted to protect itself from unregulated vaccine doses reaching Great Britain via Northern Ireland as a back door.

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The European Union and the United Kingdom have only one land border, it runs between the EU member state Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland.

In the course of the Brexit negotiations, however, it was agreed that no controls should take place at this border in order not to endanger the fragile peace in the former civil war region of Northern Ireland.

It was not until late Friday evening that the EU Commission gave in and promised in a communication that it would leave the Northern Ireland Protocol “untouched” in its export controls on vaccines.

The protective measures clause of the protocol will not be activated.

In the hours before, the dispute had developed into a diplomatic crisis between London and Brussels.

Boris Johnson spoke of "grave concern", Northern Ireland's Prime Minister Arlene Foster even of an "act of hostility".

Despite the EU's rapid backward movement, the events are likely to leave their mark on the already tense relations between both sides and not make the struggle for the precious corona vaccine any easier.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who had previously spoken to Johnson on the phone, also tweeted that she had agreed with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin on a “satisfactory way” to monitor vaccine exports.

Further details should be announced later this Saturday.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210130-99-230292 / 2