The European Commission should immediately release all currently confidential contracts on vaccine procurement and delivery in order to ensure transparency and inform the public about what was behind the slow vaccine rollout, MEP of the ruling Hungarian Fidesz party Tamás Deutsch said in a video message published on Facebook and also sent to national media.
The politician also wants answers as to when, based on the delivery schedule for secret contracts, a 70 percent vaccination rate can actually be achieved in the European Union.
“The third wave of the coronavirus pandemic is raging all over Europe,” Deutsch said. “The only way to defeat the disease is through vaccination. But the vaccination rate remains extremely low.”
“We are also waiting for an answer as to why Brussels concluded vaccine contracts so late and on such unfavorable terms,” Deutsch said, adding that those responsible for the failure to obtain the vaccines must be identified. The MEP also said he is as curious as everyone else about identifying those responsible for the EU’s failure to obtain vaccines.
Many criticisms of the EU focus on the lack of accountability from the sprawling bureaucracy, including the fact that many of the most powerful members of the body, such as those in the European Commission, were never elected. The fact that the EU has lagged so far behind in procuring and distributing vaccines is casting doubt on the bloc’s ability to navigate the crisis.
Deutsch talked about the fact that the vaccination rate is still extremely low, barely 12 percent in the European Union, so it can be said that Brussels has “botched” the procurement of vaccines.
“The number of people vaccinated in Hungary has reached two million, and we were only able to achieve a 21.5 percent vaccination rate because we were able to obtain more vaccines from the East than the number of vaccines we received from the EU,” Deutsch said, adding that EU bureaucrats were pointing at others and even lying about contracts. He said despite officials trying to deflect blame, it is clear that all vaccine procurement and supply contracts were concluded with Brussels.
“The Hungarian left only adds to the trouble. In Europe, they are running an anti-vaccination campaign in an unprecedented way, and they are also taking part in whitewashing Brussels. Enough of this!” Deutsch said.
The Hungarian government has criticized the leftist opposition for raising skepticism about Russian and Chinese vaccines. However, the decision to use the Eastern vaccines, a move increasingly supported by other countries, including Germany and Italy, has led Hungary to have the best vaccination rate in the entire EU.
Title image: Hungarian MEP Tamás Deutsch. (source: Facebook)
