by N. Peter Kramer
The EU is not living up to its promises to Africa and Latin America as it is shipping “insufficient” coronavirus vaccine doses to them, Josep Borrell said Friday. He warned this risks creating “geopolitical consequences,” with China sending more jabs and using its vaccine diplomacy (as well as big investments) to expand its influence in those regions.
Speaking at a university summer course in Santander, Spain, Borrell lashed out at Ursula von der Leyen (his boss!) for lagging behind on her commitment to provide 200 million doses to low- and middle-income countries by the end of the year. “The President of the Commission said we are going to give not a 100, but 200 million doses to Africa. Yes, but when? The problem isn’t just the commitment but the effectiveness,” Borrell said. “Before coming to this seminar, the figure that I had was that Europeans have contributed with around 10 million doses in Africa for a continent with 1.5 billion inhabitants. It’s certainly insufficient.”
He added: “In the EU, we vaccinated 60 percent of our population, in Africa, they are at 2 or 3 percent. Who’s the big vaccine supplier to Africa? China. Who’s the big vaccine supplier to Latin America? China … China’s expansion in Africa and Latin America should concern us and should occupy us a great deal.” Indeed, China has been stepping up its vaccine diplomacy in developping countries. It claims it has provided 500 million vaccine doses.
Borrell also said his concerns about slow EU action and Chinese expansion were not only linked to the area of vaccine distribution but also to trade deals. “It is hard to understand why the EU is having so many delays in approving the association agreements with Mexico and Chile, while China is landing in all parts of Latin America and occupying a predominant role,” he warned, referencing two pending EU trade and political cooperation deals.
