Brexit: Germany and France will 'come around' says expert
When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they’ll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Brexit Britain has surged ahead with its vaccine programme, with more than half of the total population already receiving a jab. In contrast, the EU got off to a terrible start with its vaccine rollout, quickly becoming embroiled in a bitter row with vaccine maker AstraZeneca after the pharmaceutical giant backed down on the number of jabs it had intended to supply the bloc. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has threatened the UK with a vaccine export ban in a desperate attempt to hold onto any spare jabs as the situation throughout the bloc becomes more urgent.
Last month, more than half of the remaining 27 EU member states suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine following reports of patients suffering blood clots after receiving the jab, before they resumed this, albeit some countries limiting it to certain age groups.
Europe is now also facing a third wave of Covid with cases surging throughout the bloc and several countries, including France, once again imposing a national lockdown in a desperate attempt to curb the latest infections.
Earlier this week, French leader Emmanuel Macron was brutally attacked by presidential election rival Marine Le Pen, labelling the statistic that only five percent of the population have had two doses as “pitiful”.
Charles-Henri Gallois, president of the Generation Frexit movement in France, has piled the pressure on Mr Macron and the EU, warning the fury felt throughout France is injecting momentum into France soon becoming the next country to follow Britain out of the bloc.
He told Express.co.uk: “The chaotic rollout of vaccines throughout the EU is the best advert for Frexit.
“One day of COVID-19 costs us €3billion euros per week.
“It has been calculated that the vaccination delay will cost €123billion for each EU country.
“When the French will be forced to pay the bill, the EU will pay the price and Frexit will rise.”
Mr Gallois, who is campaigning for France to leave the EU, believes there is now a huge sense of “embarrassment” being felt by pro-EU supporters over how the chaotic rollout of vaccines throughout the bloc has continued to unfold.
He warned the EU’s “Stronger Together” propaganda is crumbling as a result, with the crisis emphasising exactly why France would benefit more from being outside the EU.
The Generation Frexit president said: “I think that it’s more embarrassment for the pro-EU. All the propaganda of ‘Stronger Together’ is falling apart.
“This crisis highlights an obvious fact for a Frexiteer like me: the independence, agility and resourcefulness of sovereign nation-states like the UK have outshone the lumbering bureaucracy of the EU at every stage.”
Mr Gallois even claimed the EU has become an embarrassing laughing stock among countries that are within Europe, that are not currently members of the EU.
The Frexiteer concluded: “The EU is pretty divided. Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia have ordered the Russian vaccine on their one as they see than the EU programme is a disaster. Germany is threatening to do the same.
“Everyone sees that the EU management of this crisis is a disaster.
“Actually, Macron is really the last europeist who thinks that we need more EU to deal with this crisis.
“When you have less vaccinated than Morocco, Chile, Serbia, Switzerland, Norway or Iceland, I’m pretty sure that these countries are laughing when they hear ‘stronger together’ or that ‘we need a EU solution to this crisis’.”
The EU was plunged into further chaos this week when health ministers failed to agree a common guidance for the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Ministers held a virtual meeting shortly after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) changed its guidance on the vaccine after finding possible links with very rare cases of unusual blood clots with low blood platelet counts.
But the minister failed to agree a common position at the meeting and still maintained different guidance.
Portugal, which currently holds the presidency of the EU Council, had warned in a letter before the meeting: “We expect this announcement (from the EMA) will have a direct and immediate impact not only on our national vaccination plans, but also in our citizens’ trust in vaccines against COVID-19.
“Harmonisation at an EU level will be essential to stop the spread of misinformation.”
Source: Read Full Article