European Council President Charles Michel on Thursday said the EU could adopt “urgent measures” in response to a shortfall in coronavirus vaccine, by invoking an emergency provision in the EU treaties.
It was not immediately clear what further development might trigger such a move, but officials said that Council legal advisers believed the powers, in Article 122 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, could be used to force vaccine-makers to share their patents, or other licenses, and take other steps to ramp up production of the desperately sought-after vaccines.
Michel raised the possibility of such an emergency step in a letter to the chancellor of Austria and the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Denmark and Greece, following up on a leaders’ tele-summit last week that focused on the response to the pandemic.
During that meeting, which came before news broke about a major shortfall in vaccine production by AstraZeneca, the EU heads of state and government had demanded that pharmaceutical companies live up to their contractual commitments. At that point, concern was raised by a smaller production drop related to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
“You are indeed right that vaccines will prove the real game-changers in our fight against COVID,” Michel wrote to the four leaders. “We must therefore spare no effort, at our end, to ensure the timely vaccination of our citizens. Our discussions on 21 January revealed our clear common position that vaccinations need to be accelerated as a matter of the utmost urgency.”
Michel acknowledged at the leaders’ request that the European Medicines Agency move as quickly as possible to grant regulatory approval to vaccines as well as a request, when possible, to pre-ship vaccines in anticipation of approval so that stocks are in place for deployment.
But Michel noted that such pre-shipments were only possible if the vaccine is ready. “Regrettably, the delays announced recently by some pharmaceutical companies are an issue of critical concern,” he wrote, adding: “Unjustified delays would put the lives of millions at risk.”
Given the insufficient explanations from AstraZeneca, Michel said the bloc should be prepared to act beyond a new export transparency mechanism announced by the Commission on Thursday. Like many public leaders, Michel is eager to be seen as proactive in pushing for the speedy deployment of vaccines to citizens, as the coronavirus pandemic rages and many countries have extended or reimposed lockdown measures.
“I support all efforts to resolve the matter with companies through dialogue and negotiation,” Michel wrote. “However, if no satisfactory solution can be found, I believe we should explore all options and make use of all legal means and enforcement measures at our disposal under the Treaties. If it is deemed politically opportune, this could include a possible recourse to Article 122 TFEU. This would give the EU and Member States the legal means, by adopting appropriate urgent measures, to ensure effective vaccine production and supply for our population.”
He added, “I believe this solution would demonstrate the EU’s strength and reliability in protecting its citizens’ health over and above all other considerations. I made this suggestion to the Commission President von der Leyen so that we can explore this avenue imminently.”
Article 122 is generally regarded as providing a mechanism for the EU to rush emergency financial assistance to a member country in need, but officials said Michel had received guidance from the Council legal service that the provision could be interpreted more broadly.