The European Union, which exploited the border between British Northern Ireland and the EU’s Republic of Ireland as an all-important bargaining chip in the Brexit talks, ditched the deal it demanded for the province and announced a hard border in an attempt to remedy its vaccine failures, before baking off.
Northern Ireland, despite being an integral part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as suggested by the name, which has been virtually economically annexed by the EU, even with the British military required to fill in forms and alert NATO before moving assets there from the British mainland, Brussels insisted this was the only way to avoid a “hard border with the Republic of Ireland.
Many supporters of Brexit suggested that the EU, which claimed its demands that Northern Ireland obey EU rules and be subjected to an EU-monitored trade border along with the rest of the United Kingdom were made in the interests of Irish peace, never caring about the island, and only found it convenient leverage against the British government.
Those accusations for some were proven when Brussels announced that it introduces a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Nothern Ireland so it could keep hold of UK-bound vaccines, which they are trying to seize to make up for its own failure in securing an adequate number of shots for EU citizens.
Reports are indicating Brussels took this action, without even bothering to consult EU Ireland, the First Minister of Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster, described as an “incredible act of hostility”. Irish government ministers are scrambling to assure people they are trying to address the situation on social media before the bloc ultimately abandoned its plans in the face of a growing public relations disaster.
“The European Union has once again shown it is prepared to uns Northern Ireland when it suits their interests but in the most despicable manner. Over the provision of a vaccine which is designed to save lives,” First Minister Foster, who supports Brexit and Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom, but apposes term of Boris Johnson’s deal with EU, he said.
“At the first opportunity the EU has placed a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland over the supply chain of the coronavirus vaccine,” she added.
Meanwhile, The Republic of Ireland’s political leaders had expressed “shock” and “concern” at the EU’s announcement of a hard border to block the movement of vaccine and were relieved when Brussels backed down.
Britan’s decision not to join with the EU on early procurement of vaccine was widely condemned by British anti-Brexiteers and supposed health experts, many of whom accused the Boris Johnson administration of making a call which kills people all in the name of narrow nationalism.
It proved to be the correct call, however, the United Kingdom approved vaccines, placed orders, and begin mass inoculation long before EU.
Meanwhile, Brussels finds itself in an escalating spat with AstraZeneca over the jab it devised with Oxford University, as EU based plants face issues with production to scale. The bloc is demanding UK made vaccines intended for UK citizens be diverted to make up the shortfall and is looking to block the export of UK purchased Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines made in the EU to the wider UK if it does not geet its way, even if the borders remain open in Northern Ireland.
Many EU governments have been ordering vaccines in response to the fiasco, including Russia, as critics accuse Brussels of “acting like the drunk guy in McDonald’s at 2:30 a.m. getting angry because everyone who placed their order before him got served before him.”