EU vaccination strategy: Von der Leyens terribly nice EU parliament

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Before that, a forearm nudge with Manfred Weber, a short chat - and then Ursula von der Leyen had to justify herself.

In the plenary hall of the European Parliament, which is sparsely occupied due to the corona, the President of the European Commission should answer questions from the MPs, who are mostly connected by video: about the mishaps in obtaining EU vaccines.

An apology had been requested prior to the appointment.

The fact that von der Leyen appeared in front of the parliamentarians was already a sign that things were getting serious - the appointments in parliament had previously usually been held by the health commissioner Stella Kyriakides, who is responsible for vaccination orders, or her senior official Sandra Gallina.

Kyriakides also sat in the round;

but initially it was the Commission President who took the floor.

Von der Leyen began her speech anything but humble.

Instead, she listed the successes of the EU vaccination campaign: at the beginning of the month, 94 percent of the medical staff in Poland had already been vaccinated, she said;

in Denmark already 93 percent of residents in old people's homes.

The examples showed that the vaccination campaign in Europe has picked up speed in many places, said the CDU politician.

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It was only after she had rolled out this small tableau of vaccination successes that von der Leyen began to criticize herself - albeit in small doses: “We were late for approval, we were too optimistic about mass production and maybe we were too sure that it would Ordered actually delivered on time, "said the head of the authorities.

Mind you: we, not me.

A real apology sounds different.

This only followed when it came to the failure in connection with Northern Ireland.

When the EU recently introduced a control mechanism for exports of vaccines, export controls between EU member Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland were considered.

"Mistakes were made," said the head of the commission.

“I'm very sorry.” And immediately afterwards: “We were able to solve it in the end.” That is an exaggeration, however.

The diplomatic mistake from Brussels was a steep blueprint for the British government to call the Northern Ireland Protocol into question.

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According to the agreement, the rules of the EU internal market and customs union continue to apply to Northern Ireland.

This is to prevent a hard border with controls from developing between the EU state and the British part of the country, through which old conflicts on the Irish island could flare up again.

Promised faster approval

In her speech, however, von der Leyen insisted that the fundamental decisions relating to vaccine procurement had been correct: joint procurement at European level and the waiver of emergency approval as in Great Britain.

A proper approval process is necessary so that citizens can trust the vaccine.

The politician also made it clear who she blames for the slow progress of the vaccination campaign: the vaccine manufacturers.

"Science has overtaken industry," she said, referring to the surprisingly rapid development of a vaccine.

"Industry is lagging behind galloping science."

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Europe has invested billions in the run-up to building up production capacities, which is why politics now need reliability from industry.

Industry commissioner Thierry Breton should ensure that more vaccine can be produced in Europe.

In the eye of the storm"

Von der Leyen promised the MPs that vaccines should be approved more quickly in the future.

She also promised that she would do everything possible so that MPs could review the supply contracts.

A new contact group should also ensure a better exchange of information with Parliament.

The heads of the large parliamentary groups held back with von der Leyen during the debate, despite criticism in advance.

"In my group we will always be a demanding partner," said Iratxe García Pérez, who heads the Social Democrats in Parliament.

"But we will always be a partner."

And Manfred Weber, who heads the conservative EPP group, expressly defended Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides, who also sat in the plenary.

You are currently sitting in the eye of the storm, Weber said to the politician who belongs to his party family.

"You and your whole team are doing a good job for Europe."

Only from the political fringes, the sharply right-wing ID group and the left group critical of capitalism came heavy criticism of the Commission President.

The group leader of the Left, Manon Aubry, called for a committee of inquiry and accused von der Leyen of crouching in front of the pharmaceutical companies.

There are surprisingly moderate tones of parliamentarians who are actually supposed to control the executive.

One reason for the reluctance may be that the pro-European MPs are behind von der Leyen on one central point: That it was right to buy the vaccines together at EU level.

"I do not like to imagine what it would have meant if a few large states had secured the vaccine and the others had received nothing," said von der Leyen.

"It would have been the end of our community."

It should not only have spoken from the hearts of representatives of smaller and comparatively poorer states.

"It is the first time that Europe has taken on such responsibility in the field of health for its citizens," said Dacian Ciolos, Romanian President of the liberal Renew Group.

"One can imagine what would have happened if individual member states had to face the challenge alone."

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The reckoning with von der Leyen, which many observers had expected, turned out to be this way, even if many of the 112 MPs who spoke in this high-profile debate criticized aspects of vaccine procurement.

The President of the Commission promised you to work more closely with Parliament in the future.

She will do everything possible so that parliamentarians can see the contracts with the vaccine manufacturers.

For von der Leyen, who had to deal with the allegations and demands of the specialist politicians for more transparency, better management and the approval of patents for a good four hours, it was still not a pleasant appointment.

Simply because it might not be the last of its kind.