Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has criticized the EU’s alleged failure to distribute COVID-19 vaccines fairly by also including the Balkans in their plan.
“In terms of planning access to the Pfizer vaccines, the EU didn’t see beyond its own borders; it left the vaccination of people in our region to chance, or to what is called ‘an opportunity for bilateral agreements [with Pfizer],’” Rama stated during Monday’s parliamentary session.
It comes after Rama’s repeated criticism against the EU, which prompted the French Ambassador to openly reject his assessment of the EU’s policy for vaccine distribution as “morally unjustifiable”.
In today’s session, the parliament approved an agreement with Pfizer for about 10,000 doses. Whilst the agreement is classified as secret, Rama said it stipulates that Albania can ask for up to 500,000 doses.
Opposition MPs demanded the publication of the agreement but the government claims Pfizer has demanded its classification as a trade secret.
Rama has stated earlier that he had 975 Pfizer vaccine doses donated by a European Union member state, which in return has allegedly demanded the Prime Minister to keep the donating country’s name a secret so other countries don’t ask the same favor from them.
