European Union urges the United States to “reconsider” decision to leave WHO
“Global cooperation and solidarity, through multilateral efforts, are the only effective and viable ways to win this battle that the world is facing”, guarantee Ursula von der Leyen and European Commission Vice President Josep Borrell.
European Union is now trying to persuade Washington to reconsider the decision. In message published this Saturday, the European Commission and diplomat Josep Borrel call for the country to step back in cutting relations with World Health Organization (WHO) because the pandemic crisis requires cooperation between all countries.
“In the face of this global threat, now is the time to improve cooperation and common solutions. Actions that weaken international results should be avoided ”, defend Ursula von der Leyen and the vice president of the Commission and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
The American president criticized the difference in the contributions made to WHO by the USA and China (40 million dollars annually versus 450 million dollars a year). On this point, Brussels says that Member States continue to support WHO in the fight against Covid-19 and that they have even allocated additional funds. “Global cooperation and solidarity, through multilateral efforts, are the only effective and viable ways to win this battle that the world is facing”, guarantee Ursula von der Leyen and Josep Borrell.
In a press conference at the White House, Donald Trump said that “the world needs answers from China about the virus”. “We need to have transparency. Why has China removed infected people from Wuhan to all other parts of China? [The Chinese authorities] allowed them to travel freely around the world, including Europe and the United States, ”he said yesterday afternoon.
European Commission leaders ‘replied’ that European countries belonging to WHO agreed to initiate, “as soon as possible, an impartial, independent and comprehensive assessment to review the global response to the pandemic” and stress that this assessment “is necessary, because there are lessons to be learned ”. “The assessment of our collective performance at the international level is just a necessary process, with the aim of strengthening health security”, can be read in the same document.
The European Union is now trying to persuade Washington to reconsider the decision. In message published this Saturday, the European Commission and diplomat Josep Borrel call for the country to step back in cutting relations with WHO because the pandemic crisis requires cooperation between all countries.
The cut in relations between the United States and the World Health Organization (WHO) passed this Friday from a presidential threat to reality, after Donald Trump threw more splinters at Beijing and accused the world’s biggest power of controlling this international organization.
“In the face of this global threat, now is the time to improve cooperation and common solutions. Actions that weaken international results should be avoided ”, defend Ursula von der Leyen and the vice president of the Commission and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
The American president criticized the difference in the contributions made to WHO by the USA and China (40 million dollars annually versus 450 million dollars a year). On this point, Brussels says that Member States continue to support WHO in the fight against Covid-19 and that they have even allocated additional funds. “Global cooperation and solidarity, through multilateral efforts, are the only effective and viable ways to win this battle that the world is facing”, guarantee Ursula von der Leyen and Josep Borrell.
In a press conference at the White House, Donald Trump said that “the world needs answers from China about the virus”. “We need to have transparency. Why has China removed infected people from Wuhan to all other parts of China? [The Chinese authorities] allowed them to travel freely around the world, including Europe and the United States, ”he said yesterday afternoon.
European Commission leaders ‘replied’ that European countries belonging to WHO agreed to initiate, “as soon as possible, an impartial, independent and comprehensive assessment to review the global response to the pandemic” and stress that this assessment “is necessary, because there are lessons to be learned ”. “The assessment of our collective performance at the international level is just a necessary process, with the aim of strengthening health security”, can be read in the same document.
