Mr. Thierry Breton:

As I said, we have not decided how we will continue to work in the future but it is important we learn which companies are able to fulfil their commitments.

On the legal part of the question, of course we have a contract. I am the one who is the first to trigger, to say there is something wrong happening that we do not understand. My goal was to ensure we got the vaccines as soon as possible and I tried to do everything I can to help with companies, including AstraZeneca. We have contracts and we sent a legal letter to AstraZeneca, which it has 20 days to answer. That is now in the hands of the legal department.

I acknowledge it is extremely difficult to ramp up such a production so quickly. We will probably be the first continent in vaccine production using technology that never existed before at this scale. We should remember there was never a factory that could produce this many doses of a new vaccine. The good news is we have such a large portfolio that now we will be able to fulfil our commitment. The legal department will do what it has to.

Member states are part of the vaccination campaign. I said there are already 12 member states which have said they see this and can organise it themselves. I have no doubt the 27 member states, in the coming days and weeks, will agree the target as they become comfortable they will receive the necessary doses to reach the target. The target is important. Some have spoken of it being the beginning of global unity - I am not an epidemiologist myself, I am just repeating what I hear in expert debates - but it is also important to give some light at the end of the tunnel for our citizens, including before the holiday season. That is very important after everything we have gone through collectively and individually. That is also why we decided to put the green certificate in place to start to reopen our borders for travel.

The vaccine strategy in the EU is based on solidarity and it has worked. I know it was challenging at the beginning, I accept that, but at the end of the day it has worked. No one single country could have done this. We have been able to do this all together. There was a challenge at the beginning but it is important to avoid vaccine nationalism. We also bear on our shoulders the vaccination of the world today. We are the only group to export vaccines massively outside Europe. We are doing this for our allies, partners and for our NATO allies, and it is our responsibility to do this in the future with COVAX and for Africa. It is also in our interest. The Deputy mentioned what will happen if we do not do this. Look at what happened in the UK. It started its campaign, then there was the British variant, and now there is the Brazil variant. It is in our interest to ensure we can help everyone with the industrial facility we have now in Europe.