Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels in December.
Photographer: Aaron Chown / PA Media / Bloomberg
Photographer: Aaron Chown / PA Media / Bloomberg
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen received a phone call on Wednesday night after the European Union’s efforts to secure the supply of vaccines increased tensions between the two sides, according to two people. couple of the subject.
The call was made around 7 pm, one person said. It came just hours after von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, presented plans to restrict EU vaccine exports to Britain. Spokesmen for the commission and the UK government declined to comment.
A discussion of vaccine exports is the latest controversy in the murky relations between Britain and the EU since the United Kingdom left the bloc. The two sides are also involved in a discussion about the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol in the Brexit agreement.
The United Kingdom is the largest recipient of doses taken in the EU, receiving 10 million of the 42 million shots exported since February. EU ambassadors were said on Wednesday that no vaccine was imported from Britain.
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– With the help of Tim Ross and Nikos Chrysoloras