Hungary shames EU over 'too slow' response to covid health crisis 'We want answers!'
HUNGARY'S Péter Szijjártó lashed out at the bloc for their slow rollout of the coronavirus vaccine.
Hungary Foreign Minister says EU is ‘slow’
Hungary's Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó insisted the EU was behaving slowly in their rollout of the coronavirus vaccine. While speaking to Euronews, Mr Szijjártó indicated that the EU was doing too little and too late. He has also defended his decision to procure vaccines from Russia and China due to the EU's slow roll out.
The Euronews reporter said: "Hungary is defending its choice to buy Russian and Chinese vaccines outside of the EU's collective purchasing programme.
"The Hungarian Foreign Minister signed a contract in Moscow last Friday to buy two million doses of Russia's Sputnik-V.
"They told Euronews that the EU's common vaccine strategy comes too little, too late."
Mr Szijjarto argued against the EU's strategy and said the bloc needed to answer for their delays.
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He said: "The producer, which has been prioritised by the European Union, very heavily, is delivering more vaccines to the US, UK and Israel compared to the EU member states.
"This is a fact and I think it needs to be explained to a certain extent.
"We see the UK using AstraZeneca product to vaccinate the British citizens.
"The European medical agency has not given the approval yet, it needs an explanation as well.
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"In the meantime, we can see while expectations were hyped very high, we now see that deliveries are much lower.
"They are giving fewer less vaccine doses than they were supposed to do as well."
Social and political commentator Dr Niall McCrae of the Bruges Group warned that the frustrations from member states over covid may intensify.
During an interview with Express.co.uk, he warned countries may lash out at the bloc due to their failings throughout the pandemic.
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He said: "Now we are in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic and I think we are seeing growing signs that Governments across Europe are in trouble.
"Their prospects are quite difficult and I think covid is likely to become a political crisis as well as a public health crisis in Europe.
"The EU has been unable to impose any legitimate authority during this pandemic.
"The EU is very interventionist and has been proactive in the past but with Covid, it has almost become an irrelevance."