The Austrian Chancellor’s camera was switched off in a picture posted online of their historic digital get-together with the US President. It came after marathon talks during which Mr Kurz highlighted deep divisions in the EU27’s internal Covid jabs policy. European leaders spent more than five hours wrangling over the distribution, production and potential hoarding of vaccines amid growing anger over their snail-paced rollout.
The marathon talks were described as fraught and ill-tempered with insiders pointing the blame at Mr Kurz for a breakdown in relations.
The Austrian was said to have blocked any hope of progress and demanded more doses from the EU’s central pot.
He felt the wrath of German Chancellor Angela Merkel after threatening to veto any distribution deal that did not boost Austria’s share of jabs.
According to sources, Mrs Merkel barked: “Purchase contracts were each signed by member states, and it was not by some stupid bureaucrats.”
Talks dragged late into the night with a compromise text eventually agreed to satisfy Vienna, but only after negotiations over vaccines were shelved to welcome US President Biden.
This was the first time since 2009, when they welcomed Barack Obama, that EU leaders had held talks with the head of the White House.
European Council President Charles Michel said: “For the first time in 11 years we welcomed the President of the United States to the European Council.
“It was the opportunity for the President of the United States to express his vision of our future cooperation. And for us to express our strong commitment to this fundamental transatlantic alliance.”
After President Biden’s departure from the meeting, EU leaders got back to work on settling their tense row over vaccines.
EU Commission boss Ursula von der Leyen insisted she received the backing of member states to make a grab for “Europe’s fair share” of vaccines.
During crisis talks over the bloc’s jabs fiasco, the top Eurocrat struggled to keep her export ban on Covid vaccines alive amid fears the plans could trigger a global trade war.
Before the summit, she tweeted that it would “ensure that Europeans get their fair share of vaccines”.
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She said: “The problem at the moment with the vaccine supply isn’t so much due to the question how much was ordered, but more about how much can be manufactured on European soil.
“Because we can clearly see: British manufacturing plants manufacture for Great Britain, the US aren’t exporting anything, and therefore we rely on what can be produced in Europe, and we have to expect this virus will preoccupy us for a long time.”
Mrs Merkel was leading a group of worried European capitals urging Brussels to back down on its threat to blockade.
The nations, including Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland and the Netherlands, fear Mrs von der Leyen could trash vital supply chains by moving to cut-off shipments to Britain.
But she presented a slideshow detailing the number of vaccines exported from mainland Europe to the rest of the world.
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A European source told Express.co.uk she deliberately pointed out 21 million of the 77 million doses had landed in Britain.
Hardliners France, Italy and Poland continued to back an export ban on countries with a better jabs rollout than the EU.
Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki urged Brussels to go further by seizing control of factories and ripping up patents for the Oxford jab, as well as blockading deliveries abroad.
He said: “It is time to replace strong words with strong actions. We must put more effective solutions on the table.”