2021 E23 P1 Sharepic

In this special summer episode we’ll bring you the true story on how the European Union has been dealing with the covid-19 pandemic so far and why the EU seems to have a deep love affair with Big Pharma.

In two parts of this podcast several experts will explain that the European Commission – the executive branch of the EU - not only has a very eurocentric way of dealing with the pandemic, but also persists in complete secrecy on how it negotiates with powerful pharmaceutical companies.

We are now July 2021, and the covid-19 pandemic is still raging in many parts of the world, in countries in Africa, in india, Indonesia and so on… And while many Europeans are happy to be able to go on holidays and again enjoy certain freedoms, thanks to the covid-19 vaccines, in low and middle income countries most people can only dream of having access to such a vaccine.

“The vaccine must become a global common good”, said EC-president Ursula von der Leyen in the spring of 2020. We now know those were empty words.

The production of vaccines needs to be scaled up urgently, experts have been saying for many months; And many experts, scientists, hundreds of NGO’s, top politicians and the Pope, have argued that an important hurdle for that upscaling are patents and intellectual property rights and the refusal by Big Pharma to share technology.

The truth is that the EU is de facto blocking the increase of production because it wants to protect the competitiveness of it’s pharmaceutical sector by protecting it’s patents. And allowing non- transparency on for example the price of medicines.

In the first part of this episode we talk first with CEO-researcher Olivier Hoedeman on the total secrecy that still surrounds the EU negotiations and dealings with Big Pharma. Then we listen to CEO-researcher Kenneth Haar, who has published several reports on the bizarre ways the European Commission and the European member states have been dealing with the issue of vaccine equity.

2021 E23 P2 Sharepic

In the second part of this episode we first talk with Dimitri Eynikel, expert of Doctors without Borders who explains why the proposals of the EU to counter or derail the proposal of South-Africa and India, are rather meaningless. Dimitri explains why the proposals of the EU to boost global production and access to vaccines and therapeutics will simply not work and might even take us backwards. And why in times of a pandemic this attitude of the European Union is “quite shameful”. Then we discuss with investigative journalist Priti Patnaik, based in Geneva, specialised in global health policy and editor of the Geneva Health Files.

This podcast is produced by CEO and Counter Balance. Both NGOs raise awareness on the importance of good governance in the European Union, by researching issues like lobbying of large and powerful industries, corporate capture of decision making, corruption, fraud, human rights violations in areas like agro-business, biotech & chemical companies, the financial sector & public investment banks, trade, energy&climate, scientific research and much more…

And EU Watchdog Radio is being noticed more and more! We appreciate each and every listener and the sharing of our episodes. The editorial team of Feedspot, a US based news and blog reader used by over 4 million users worldwide, selected this podcast as one of the TOP 25 European Union podcasts.

You can find us on iTunes, Spotify & Buzzsprout. Stay tuned for more independent and in-depth information that concerns every EU-citizen!

Who we are

Both CEO and Counter Balance raise awareness on the importance of good governance in the European Union, by researching issues like lobbying of large and powerful industries, corporate capture of decision making, corruption, fraud, human rights violations in areas like agro-business, biotech & chemical companies, the financial sector & public investment banks, trade, energy & climate, scientific research and much more...

You can find us on iTunes, Spotify & Buzzsprout. Stay tuned for more independent and in-depth information that concerns every EU-citizen!

Listen on Spotify!

All episodes