“Despite many problems, an agreement on an ambitious 2030 climate target for the European Union is both desirable and possible during the EU summit on Thursday and Friday," said Dr Peter Liese, environmental spokesperson of the largest political group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats), in the run-up to the EU summit. The summit will surely be dominated by the dispute over the budget of the recovery plan and the related rule of law mechanism as well as Brexit. Nevertheless, the German Presidency is determined to also address the issue of climate protection and, if possible, to find a conclusion. "The German Presidency and also Chancellor Angela Merkel are very determined and if there is a chance for an agreement, they will surely try to finalize it. I explicitly support this approach," said the MEP.
On behalf of his group, Peter Liese called for the potential of sinks to be addressed quickly. "The EU Commission has proposed that the climate target should no longer be adopted as a mere reduction target, but as a net target. This means that the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere, e.g. through sustainable forest management, humus creation in agriculture, or modern technologies for removing CO2 from the atmosphere, will be rewarded on a large scale for the first time.
Read more: Agreement on EU climate target at summit desirable and possible despite problems
"More careful testing of the BioNTech vaccine will not result in fewer people being vaccinated in the other European countries compared to the UK by spring. The vaccine that is supposed to be supplied to the EU will not be delivered to the UK. The UK will receive vaccine for 400,000 people (800,000 vaccine doses) in a first batch and as soon as the vaccine receives conditional approval from the European Medicines Agency, delivery will begin for the other EU countries", says the MEP and health spokesperson of the largest political group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats) Dr med Peter Liese after talks with the company BioNTech.
Sean Marett, the CCO and CBO of BioNTech, had assured Liese that the vaccine intended for the countries of the European Union had already been partially produced and stored. “When EMA gives approval, vaccination can start immediately. The emergency approval in the UK does not affect number doses delivered over the next months for other regions like the European Union. We expect millions of citizens in the EU will be vaccinated in the first quarter of 2021 if we receive regulatory approval this year”, Marett told Peter Liese in a written statement.
Read more: Careful testing in the EU does not lead to less vaccine available
"We should not look to the UK but to Ireland when considering how best to deal with the pandemic," said MEP and health policy spokesman of the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats) Peter Liese, in view of the start of corona vaccination in the UK.
“Vaccination starts today in Great Britain, but that does not mean that the country will ultimately come through the pandemic better than the EU countries. So far, pandemic management in the UK has been very poor and I have my doubts about the very fast emergency authorisation of the vaccine. Although the UK has a very good national authority, the requirements for approval by the European Medicines Agency are higher than for emergency authorisation in the UK. Therefore, it is good that EU countries, although they could in principle, do not go down the emergency route, but the route of an orderly procedure. I do not expect dramatic side effects, but I still believe that we have a higher standard and that it is worth waiting three weeks. Especially since BioNTech has given a written assurance that starting vaccination earlier in the UK does not mean that the country will end up with more vaccine than other countries. The vaccine intended for other EU countries is already partly produced and stored and will not go to Great Britain," Liese says (see Sean Marett's statement at the end).
"I consider this decision to be problematic and recommend that EU Member States do not repeat the process in the same way. A few weeks of thorough examination by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is better than a hasty emergency marketing authorisation of a vaccine". This was stated by MEP Peter Liese, health policy spokesman of the largest political group in the European Parliament (EPP Christian Democrats) with regards to the emergency authorisation granted for the corona vaccine from Biontech/Pfizer in the UK. Liese stressed that the decision had nothing to do with Brexit.
Under the European rules to which the UK is still bound to until the end of the year, all EU Member States have the possibility to grant national emergency authorisation in certain cases. “Other member states are not following the UK example because they believe that careful consideration by the European Medicines Agency will give people additional security. The information of the last weeks was mainly based on press releases and much of the data has only been available for the authorities for a few hours now. However, with such a large-scale vaccination campaign, it is important to look closely and carefully check the information provided by the companies.
Read more: Emergency authorisation of corona vaccine in the UK not recommended to do the same