German MEP Dr Peter Liese argued that the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed at the University of Oxford, would not even exist if it was not for EU and German funds to BioNTech research over the years.
He says that “Oxford was one of the biggest recipients of European research money. So the vaccine wouldn’t exist without European and German support.”
Who supplied the funding to the EU, so they could fund the German BioNTech and the UK Oxford University research?
In 2019 the UK made an estimated gross contribution (after the rebate) of £14.4 billion. The UK received £5.0 billion of public sector receipts from the EU, so the UK’s net public sector contribution to the EU was an estimated £9.4 billion.
How much of that £14.4 billion in 2019, that the UK gave to the EU was given back to the Oxford University, and given to the German BioNTech, and being claimed as European money?
Without that British money, the EU wouldn’t have been able to afford many things, including contributions to virus research.
According to the logic of the German MEP Dr Peter Liese, the UK can claim so much of the EU property created from the billions that the UK has contributed to the EU over many years.
I wonder of the EU really want to change the Brexit agreement, to take account of what each country in the EU has paid for?
His comments were in retaliation to Boris Johnson asking the EU to retract their comments about the UK banning exports of the vaccine.
And the latest news is:
BRUSSELS has admitted its claim that Britain is blocking Covid-19 vaccine exports was wrong
and
BRUSSELS has now even threatened its own blanket ban on jabs leaving the EU.
And back in January …
Uğur Şahin, the chief executive of the Germany-headquartered healthcare company BioNTech, has said the development of the technology used in its Covid-19 vaccine was made possible in part by sustained support from EU R&D programmes. (A lot of this funding came from the UK)
Biontech: EU funds helped develop covid-19vaccine
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