French President Emmanuel Macron blamed the EU's slow Covid-19 inoculation campaign on a lack of ambition and a failure to appreciate how quickly a vaccine could be developed last year.
"Everybody, all the experts said: 'Never in the history of mankind was a vaccine developed in less than a year'," Mr Macron told Greek television channel ERT.
"We didn't shoot for the stars. That should be a lesson for all of us. We were wrong to lack ambition, to lack the madness, I would say, to say: 'It's possible, let's do it'," he said.
The EU is responsible for procuring and distributing vaccines to member states, but lags well behind comparable countries such as Israel, the UAE, the UK and the US in the number of shots per capita administered.
"We didn't think it would happen that quickly … you can give that to the Americans, as early as the summer of 2020 they said: 'Let's pull out all the stops and do it'," Mr Macron said.
"As far as we're concerned, we didn't go fast enough, strong enough on this. We thought the vaccines would take time to take off."
France, where about 6.6 million people have been given at least one shot, has struggled with domestic issues including trying to a convince large chunks of the population that are sceptical about vaccines.
The EU, which is furious with drug maker AstraZeneca over missed delivery targets, on Wednesday tightened controls on vaccine exports in an effort to speed up its campaign.
It came amid a surge in virus cases on the continent that has forced many EU member states to tighten restrictions.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel blamed supply problems on a lack of production capacity.
"British production sites are manufacturing for Britain and the United States is not exporting, so we are reliant on what we can make in Europe," she told Germany's parliament on Wednesday.
"We have to assume that the virus, with its mutations, may be occupying us for a long time to come, so the question goes far beyond this year."
She also defended the decision to jointly procure vaccines with EU member states.
"Now that we see even small differences in the distribution of vaccines cause big discussions, I would not like to imagine if some member states had vaccines and others did not," Ms Merkel said.
"That would shake the internal market to its core."
Fixtures
50-over match
UAE v Lancashire, starts at 10am
Champion County match
MCC v Surrey, four-day match, starting on Sunday, March 24, play starts at 10am
Both matches are at ICC Academy, Dubai Sports City. Admission is free.
Western Clubs Champions League:
- Friday, Sep 8 - Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Bahrain
- Friday, Sep 15 – Kandy v Abu Dhabi Harlequins
- Friday, Sep 22 – Kandy v Bahrain
Meatless Days
Sara Suleri, with an introduction by Kamila Shamsie
Penguin
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
Generational responses to the pandemic
Devesh Mamtani from Century Financial believes the cash-hoarding tendency of each generation is influenced by what stage of the employment cycle they are in. He offers the following insights:
Baby boomers (those born before 1964): Owing to market uncertainty and the need to survive amid competition, many in this generation are looking for options to hoard more cash and increase their overall savings/investments towards risk-free assets.
Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980): Gen X is currently in its prime working years. With their personal and family finances taking a hit, Generation X is looking at multiple options, including taking out short-term loan facilities with competitive interest rates instead of dipping into their savings account.
Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996): This market situation is giving them a valuable lesson about investing early. Many millennials who had previously not saved or invested are looking to start doing so now.
Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
