EU more worried about Parma ham branding than COVID vaccine patents

How did EU governments decide to oppose a global measure that could boost production of COVID vaccines and medicines for the global south? You won’t get the slightest hint from official EU sources. But leaked documents reveal that the Commission and member states see the real problem as a mere PR issue of how to deflect criticism. Given the pandemic, their position seems indefensible.

Corporate Europe Observatory

Part 5 - Below standard

To suggest voluntary licensing as a solution is tantamount to relying on the good will of patent owners, the big pharmaceutical companies – a rare commodity, and certainly not a solution. So in sum, the minutes show an EU with no intention to waive intellectual property rights.

Moreover, it shows the Commission and member state representatives perceive the criticism from the global south and from civil society as a mere PR problem, rather than posing a genuine challenge with logical, economic, and moral force behind it that should provoke real consideration on the part of the EU.

Incredibly, looking at these minutes, the issue of access to vaccines globally, covers only a very small fraction of the text. This is in a context where these life or death decisions could solve or prolong the pandemic, and couldn't be more significant. Yet apparently the issue of ‘geographical indicators’ – whether a feta cheese has to come from Greece or a Parma ham from Parma – is a much more pertinent issue to the people around the table!

In sum, what might be the biggest issue globally at the moment, is easy for the Commission and the Council to agree on. Hardly even worth a discussion.

While the rest of the globe (indeed the EU itself) is experiencing concern over the continuing spread of the virus and the appallingly low production of vaccines, the Commission in concert with member states, insists on handling the issue behind closed doors, where a few people from trade ministries quickly reject a bold proposal that could boost vaccine production and save untold lives around the world.

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Source, links, further info:

https://corporateeurope.org/en/2021/03/patently-absurd

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