EU tries to punish UK for its own COVID vaccine failures

In the quiet of the winter morning, the European Union unilaterally triggered Article 16, a nuclear option to impose a hard border in between the Republic of Ireland, and Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to stop vaccines reaching Britain from Ireland. In a flick of pen, and incompetence, they managed to unify Northern Irish, and British and Irish, in opposition to the move. Without understanding the political symbolism of the act, and oblivious of the hypocrisy after warning for four years that it is the British who want a hard border, and not a kind European Union, EU after immense pressure from the Irish, blamed it on "misjudgment" and withdrew the Article 16.

Thus ended one of the most infamous and humiliating weeks in recent days of the European Council, after a terrible vaccine performance, which humiliated the Irish as vassals of EU, and humiliated the Republic of Ireland treating its government as a colonial outpost, not worthy even of receiving a consultation about new border arrangements being imposed in its territory, before hastily withdrawing it. It vindicated the hard Brexiteers who laughed all day as Britain isn't dependent on EU for vaccines; made a mockery of Scottish nationalists' arguments, and displayed the severe incompetence of an organization staffed by unelected second-tier failed post-communist politicians and bureaucrats, who only take top positions in EU after failing in their respective countries. What a historic day, it was for this plucky little island, and what a day of infamy for the union across the moat.

For the uninitiated, the story started like this. Britain and United States diversified the search for a vaccine, while the EU slept on the wheels. A nimble nation-state can diversify picking on vaccines, while the bureaucratic behemoth took time in deliberating. The result was a delay of three months in signing the contract. Naturally, the companies producing vaccines told the EU that the states that signed contracts, in this case, Britain for example, would get a privileged treatment in delivery of the vaccine.

That didn't go down well with the EU, and some third-rate EU apparatchik named Stella Kyriakides warned that "first come first served" is not a standard policy of statecraft. It is, and denying so is like denying the laws of gravity, but the EU is designed not to accept any blame. As a result, the EU panicked and did the biggest blunder possible, triggering the Article 16, establishing, for a few hours, a hard border in Ireland.

To the Irish, this was a shock. Instinctively and historically skeptical of Britain, they never expected the EU to stab them in the back. Furthermore, the way it was done, without even a cursory notification to Dublin, made it seem like Ireland is simply a vassal state of an empire, a charge constantly brought on by the hardest of Brexiteers. The British Government's reaction to the vaccine row was in comparison calm and mature. Ministers seemed to grasp the very real danger of escalation, and declined to comment, arguing that it was an internal matter of the EU.

Meanwhile, shocked remarks started to pour in, from the Republic of Ireland, the DUP, Sinn Féin, and even the Church of England, a remarkable theological unity unseen for centuries. An Irish government source said article 16 may have been inadvertently triggered by "someone who did not understand the political implications" of the decision. That is true. The EU and European Commission is manned by third-tier ignorant and unimaginative politicians without any sense of history and a massive desire for power, a lot of them formerly (and quite possibly still) a communist, who failed in getting elected in their respective countries, and therefore failed up to get a place in the unelected EU bureaucracy. To expect either intelligence or competence from that lot is a stretch.

Within 24 hours, the EU accidentally invoked article 16, withdrew it, tried to start a vaccine war and failed, published their contract without proper redaction thereby breaking the contract laws, lied about the efficacy of vaccines, and then u-turned on it all. It was confirmed in the EU statement, which said 'in the process of finalization of this measure, the Commission will ensure that the Ireland / Northern Ireland Protocol is unaffected.

The Commission is not triggering the safeguard clause.' Finally, the EU, going against all, triggered export control, and has now started a withering trade war, as this would in turn affect PFizer vaccines being exported to the world. As the BBC noted, ""The controls will affect some 100 countries worldwide - including the UK, the US, Canada, and Australia - but many others, including poorer nations, are exempt." For a union that constantly berated the US and Donald Trump for protectionism, the irony was overwhelming.

In the meantime, the main issue remained. Even after this diplomatic skulduggery, the EU still doesn't have enough vaccines, for over four hundred and fifty million Europeans, as Britain and United States lead the world in vaccination programs. Meanwhile, Britain had even more reasons to cheer, as the home designed Novavax vaccine, produced and even manufactured in Britain passed the large-scale test with 89 percent effectiveness and workable even the new deadly South African variants. The British government has already secured 60 Million doses of the vaccine. Added to that was the British efficacy in getting the vaccine.

The vaccine task force was headed by Kate Bingham, a woman who was roundly criticized for being conservative but who should at least get some sort of a dame-hood for her handling of the vaccines. Demonstrating once again the competence of individuality over bureaucracy, she acted as a venture capitalist, betting on several different products, and picked winners. Knowing the size disadvantage of the UK, compared to the US and EU, she betted on speed, and the approach paid off. In the future, there would be much debate about the UK, US, and EU and their respective handling of Covid. But as the UK and US sails ahead of the EU, we should know that if our government messes up, we have the option of voting them out. That was the whole purpose of freedom.