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PARIS, March 25 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron
said on Thursday he supported stricter EU export controls on
vaccines for drug companies that do not meet their contractual
commitments with the European Union.
"It's the end of naivety," Macron told reporters after a
virtual EU summit.
"I support export control mechanisms put in place by the
European Commission. I support the fact that we must block all
exports for as long as some drug companies don't respect their
commitments with Europeans," he added.
Macron said the EU had been late in ramping up vaccine
production and inoculations, but was catching up and would
become the world's biggest producer of vaccines this summer.
He added that the EU, unlike other countries, had exported a
big part of its production instead of keeping it for itself.
"Europe is not a selfish continent. Because when I read what
the press on the other side of the Channel writes, we're being
accused of being selfish. Wrong! We let our supply chains
untouched," Macron said.
"But we saw that the United States tend to protect their own
vaccine production ... that the United Kingdom did not export
many doses. Actually, none. So we put in place an export control
mechanism."
Macron, who is facing a third wave of the coronavirus
epidemic at home, defended his decision to not impose a third
lockdown at the end of January, against the advice of many
scientists.
"I have no mea culpa to make, no regrets. We were right to
do that," Macron said.
But Macron said he was preoccupied by the situation in
French hospitals and new restrictions will probably have to be
taken in the coming days or weeks.
(Reporting by Michel Rose; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Astrazeneca (AZN)
