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Politico (1 April 2021)

By David M. Herszenhorn, Jillian Deutsch, Jacopo Barigazzi And Maïa De La Baume

In a display of what might be called qualified solidarity, most EU countries rebuffed a tantrum over coronavirus vaccine distribution led by Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, and agreed Thursday to supply extra doses to five nations hit hardest by the pandemic.

The decision taken by EU ambassadors effectively reaffirmed the EU’s existing population-based vaccine allocation formula, and delivered an embarrassing defeat to Kurz, as well as Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša.

Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovenia all refused to participate in the plan, put forward by the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the EU, to help the hard-hit countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia.

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