Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels in December.
Photographer: Aaron Chown / PA Media / Bloomberg
Photographer: Aaron Chown / PA Media / Bloomberg
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, and Ursula von der Leyen received a phone call on Wednesday evening after the European Union’s efforts to ensure the supply of vaccines increased tensions between the two parties, according to two people familiar with the matter.
One of the people said the call was held around seven in the afternoon. It came just hours after von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, planned to restrict EU vaccine exports to Britain. Commission and UK government spokesmen declined to comment.
A discussion of vaccine exports is the latest controversy over muddy relations between Britain and the EU since the UK left the bloc. The two sides are also embroiled in a discussion on the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol to the Brexit agreement.
The UK is the largest recipient of doses made in the EU, and has received 10 million of the 42 million shots exported since February. The EU ambassadors were said Wednesday that no vaccines have been imported from Britain.
Read more: EU chooses fight against Astra vaccine with UK over missing supplies
– With the assistance of Tim Ross and Nikos Chrysoloras