The U.K. and European Union said they were working on steps to defuse a fight over vaccine supplies after the EU set out a plan that would make it easier for the bloc’s governments to block Covid-19 vaccine exports.
After days of talks among senior U.K. and EU officials, the two sides said they were discussing specific steps to work together to expand vaccine deliveries. “Given our interdependencies, we are working on specific steps we can take—in the short-, medium- and long term—to create a win-win situation and expand vaccine supply for all our citizens,” the statement said.
It wasn’t clear exactly what steps were under discussion, and officials said talks would continue on these in the coming days.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive, set out a proposal Wednesday that would give the bloc’s governments more powers to block vaccine exports. The proposal is mainly aimed at the U.K, which left the EU last year and has imported millions of doses from the bloc but hasn’t exported any.
EU leaders are expected to give broad backing to the proposal at a virtual meeting Thursday, with a formal signoff coming in the next few weeks. However, the real test will be how actively leaders decide the proposed powers should be used.
