Euractiv.com with AFP Est. 3min 15-02-2022 Franck Riester, the trade minister from France, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, chaired a meeting in Marseille with his EU counterparts on the matter of vaccines and intellectual property. [Twitter account of Frank Riester] Euractiv is part of the Trust Project >>> Print Email Facebook X LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram The EU on Monday (14 February) stood by its refusal to lift patent protections on Covid vaccines, just days ahead of a summit with African Union countries who see the issue as a priority. Since October 2020, India and South Africa have led calls at the World Trade Organization for the temporary removal of intellectual property protections for vaccines, treatments and diagnostics in the fight against Covid-19. Proponents argue this would boost production globally and help address the glaring inequity in access between rich and poor nations. The members of the African Union have pushed to include the demand in the conclusions of the joint EU-AU summit that starts on Thursday in Brussels. “The African Union… urges the European Union to engage constructively towards the conclusion of a targeted and time limited waiver,” said the AU proposal seen by AFP. But a number of wealthy countries hosting large pharmaceutical companies have opposed the move, saying patents are not the main roadblocks to scaling up production and are crucial to innovation. “We think that intellectual property should never be a brake (to vaccine production),” said Franck Riester, the trade minister from France, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency. “At the same time, we do not want to call into question a system of intellectual property that allows for innovation and that has made it possible, in particular, to have vaccines very quickly in the case of Covid-19,” he added. Riester was speaking after holding talks with his EU counterparts on the matter in the French city of Marseille in which WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala also took part. Début du Conseil Commerce de la #PFUE2022 aujourd’hui, au Palais du Pharo, avec mes homologues européens. Au cœur de nos 1ers échanges : la relation centrale entre l’UE et l’Afrique. Nous partageons la volonté de renforcer nos liens commerciaux avec le continent africain. 🇪🇺🤝🌍 pic.twitter.com/lhxaqGDCXo — Franck Riester (@franckriester) February 14, 2022 Okonjo-Iweala in January said a deal at the WTO on easing restrictions to manufacturing vaccines was weeks away, possibly in time for the EU-AU summit. But on Monday ministers said they hoped for a WTO accord no earlier than June. Rich countries block push by developing nations to waive COVID vaccine patents rights Richer members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) blocked a push by over 80 developing countries on Wednesday (10 March) to waive patent rights in an effort to boost production of COVID-19 vaccines for poor nations. Irish deputy prime minister Leo Varadkar, whose country is home to several big pharma groups, said it “is very important that we’re willing to make compromises and that we’re willing to make sure that vaccines are available in all parts of the world”. “But what we want to avoid is this pandemic being used in a way by some countries to undermine innovation or undermine intellectual property,” he added. Read more with Euractiv Russia ready for more talks to end Ukraine standoffRussia held the door open Monday (14 February) to further talks on resolving its standoff with the West and said some of its military drills were ending, signalling a possible easing of the crisis over Ukraine.
