Ms Barbara Nolan:

We have been down that road before and we do not necessarily see it as the best way forward. What we are doing now, which is making substantial donations combined with development of capacity in the regions of the world where they are not able to produce vaccines, is more the direction in which Europe wants to go.

On the proposed chips Act, I do not have more information than what was contained in the announcement the President made. It was something of a surprise announcement and Commission is now working to develop it. The lack of such regulation has been identified as a major lacuna in what we are doing at the European level. We need to invest in this whole area in order to have our own capacity to produce semiconductors.

The social climate fund has been announced but, as far as I know, the criteria relating to it have not yet been developed. As I said, it is supposed to deal with the social fallout or consequences of some of the adjustments to the green agenda, which we know will impact on people differently, depending on their socioeconomic situation and the sector and even the region in which they work. As I said, it is one part of the solution. There is also the just transition and, for the fishing community, part of the allocation under the Brexit adjustment fund is supposed to go to them.