The meagre record of “Corona President” Spahn

It was supposed to be a “Corona Presidency”. But Health Minister Spahn, of all people, does not have much to show for the end of the German Presidency. Now he is passing on his frustration to the EU.

Health Minister Spahn has nothing to laugh about at the moment. First his “breakwater” strategy against Corona failed – Germany has gone from being a role model in EUropa to a laggard.

Then his hopes that the “German” vaccine from Biontech/Pfizer would be available quickly have been dashed. Spahn passed on his frustration to the EU via Twitter.

As the EU, we have successfully supported the vaccine development and jointly secured vaccine doses. All the necessary data on BioNTech are available. UK + US have already given approvals. A review of the data and approval by the EMA should take place as soon as possible.

J. Spahn on Twitter

The approval by the EMA – the European Medicines Agency – should “take place as soon as possible”, urged the CDU minister. Because people in Germany are getting impatient – and rightly so.

After all, everything went much faster in the UK and the USA. Under the German presidency – i.e. Spahn’s leadership – the EU opted for a lengthy “market approval” rather than a rapid emergency approval, as London did.

It is already his second defeat in the race for the vaccine. The EU was also late in concluding the contract with Biontech and Pfizer, and Spahn had to push there too (after he had probably been asleep).

The balance sheet of the German “Corona Presidency” does not look great in other respects either.

The promised tracing app for the whole EU still doesn’t exist, the German app – according to Spahn “the best in the world” – even his party colleague Söder thinks it’s useless.

The promised freedom of travel is a farce. Germany, of all countries, has imposed the most travel warnings – against the EU location of Brussels, among others, which has extremely hampered the work of the German Presidency

Under Spahn’s presidency, agreement was reached on uniform criteria for “green zones” to which people are allowed to travel – okay. But these “green zones” hardly exist any more in EUropa. Practical benefit: just over zero.

And what actually happened to the shorter quarantine period that Spahn proudly announced in Brussels in late summer? In most EU countries it has not been shortened, but rather extended…

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) The original post (in German) is here

P.S. In view of the growing dissatisfaction, Spahn has once again put pressure on the EMA. The vaccine should now be approved by 23 December, they say in Berlin – as a Christmas present for the Germans, so to speak. In most other EU countries, the festivities do not begin until 25 December… Oh yes: there is no official confirmation from the EU. Spahn is making European policy the lord of the manor’s way!