As part of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, the Luxembourg Minister of Foreign Affairs is not in favor of "patent liberalization", but wants vaccine-producing countries to help others in their vaccine strategies "and especially the less favored countries ".

He says he is proud that "of the 600 million vaccines produced in Europe, 300 million have been exported", especially to African countries, through the Covax program.

Jean Asselborn considers that the joint decision of the G7 finance ministers to tax the profits of multinationals at a minimum of 15% "is a very good thing", but recalls that the implementation process "will take a little time" and that it must above all be done "in accordance with the Paris Agreements".

While the British have unilaterally decided to extend the derogations granted during the signing of the Brexit agreements at the end of 2020, Jean Asselborn insists that "the British must really respect the Brexit agreements to the letter", and underlines that "if through dialogue we do not succeed, we can go as far as formalities of offense against the English ".

But he assures us that he "doesn't want us to come to that".

Relieved by the election of Joe Biden and his "administration with which we can speak again in a civilized way", Jean Asselborn assures that it "was about time that we arrived at another collaboration between the United States and the United States. 'EU' because 'another four years of Trumpism would have made the world unmanageable' and 'the values ​​of the European Union would have disappeared. He adds that' what Trump did and said was a godsend for the Orban, Le Pen, Kaczynski, Salvini and the AfD ”.

Jean Asselborn returns to the NATO summit and subscribes to the words of French President Emmanuel Macron in 2019 on the "brain death" of the organization but concedes that the organization has reacted. He also wants a "strengthening of cooperation between NATO and the European Union" because, even "if there is no European army and he does not imagine that in the near future ", the two institutions are" complementary ", in particular as regards the attitude to have vis-à-vis China. He does not see “NATO having influence or policies over China without joining the European Union”.

Finally, the Luxembourg Minister wishes to recall the importance of the free movement of people within the European Union. This principle was undermined by terrorist acts in 2015, then the migration crisis and more recently by the pandemic. This foundation of the European Union is, according to him, threatened with death by certain countries of the Union which "want at any time, for reasons of internal policy, to be able to decide on restrictions and which the Commission accepts". He sees "an evolution which makes free movement the exception, and restrictions become the rule". But "if Schengen is dead, then a weapon of the European Union, a weapon for the Europe of the citizens will disappear.And we have to fight so that the Schengen principles are maintained because we are going to lose a lot ”, he pleads.

Program prepared by Isabelle Romero, Mathilde Bénézet, Céline Schmitt and Perrine Desplats

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