France's Le Pen assails 'catastrophic' EU vaccination drive

PARIS: French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Tuesday criticised the EU's "catastrophic" Covid vaccination efforts, saying the slow rollout would be a decisive factor for voters as she takes on Emmanuel Macron for a presidential run just 12 months away.

"The European Union has failed totally," especially when compared to Britain that is no longer part of the bloc, Le Pen told the Anglo-American Press Association of Paris.

She said France should have followed the example of Hungary and the Czech Republic which secured additional doses beyond the pro-rata distribution of vaccines contracted for the bloc by the EU which has struggled to secure supplies despite contracts with pharma firms.

"They still tell us that as 27 countries we are stronger, but that is false -- the solution must come at the national level, for this issue as in many others," she said.

"And the EU needs to realise this -- the EU is now seven weeks behind schedule for its vaccination drive," she said. "It's catastrophic, and each week lost comes at a huge cost."

Credit insurer Euler Hermes estimated this week that the EU's delay will cost the bloc some 123 billion euros ($144 billion) this year.

In France, Macron is hoping to avoid imposing a third national lockdown or school closures in Paris and other high-risk areas, while vowing to pick up the pace of inoculations.

Opinion polls show that Le Pen is once again the front-runner to move with Macron into the second and final round of next year's presidential vote, her third run for the post.

"This health crisis has in reality revealed all the flaws of the dogma defended by Emmanuel Macron: I'm thinking of his dogma of ultraliberalism," Le Pen said.

"Lots of French people will have understood that we have a choice, and that there is a new economic model to imagine," in particular with stricter national oversight of industrial strategy and sovereignty, she said.