so i don't think it's wise to put all the responsibility on the shoulders of mrs von der leyen., aren't they? because everybody needs to learn lessons for the future. the us respected economist, nobel—prize—winning economist paul krugman, he analysed what's happened in europe and he said the failures were about bureaucratic and intellectual rigidity. the decision was made to go for collective eu procurement, but then the officials involved, he said, were too concerned with penny—pinching to ensure that europe was not ripped off. they were too concerned with legal liability issues, and they were not concerned enough about the urgency of saving lives. would you accept that? not entirely, but there are some elements of the arguments of paul krugman which proved to be right. the european commission and thus the member states, the member states and thus the european commission, were too budget—conscious, which is quite normal because in normal times, the commission, as was always the case, is accused of spreading money away without taking into consideration what is happening on the g

von der leyen. she says the option of withholding vaccine exports is very much on the table amid another shortfall in vaccine deliveries from astrazeneca. mr. johnson also warned that the rise in cases currently being seen across europe could be felt in britain. >> we're all facing the same pandemic. we all have the same problems. i think it's worth stressing that on the continent right now, you can see sadly there is a third wave under way, and people in this country should be under no illusions that previous experience has taught us that when a wave hits our friends, it, i'm afraid, washes up on our shores as well. i expect that we will feel those effects in due course. that's why we're getting on with our vaccination program as fast as we can. >> meantime, brazil has now surpassed 12 million confirmed cases of covid-19. despite having the second highest case count in the world, president jair bolsonaro says he isn't convinced brazil should change its policy toward the pandemic. he's even drawn the disdain of venezuela's embattled president, nicolas maduro, who calls brazil a global threat. the governor of sao paulo state is also critici