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France seized entire stock (6M) of masks from Swedish producer, intended for Spain/Italy. [Up: this occurred March 5th]

Deleted member 14459

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Did not see a thread about this. Found this when looking into Sweden's shortage of masks. Molnlycke (Swedish producer of medical supplies) has complained to Sweden's government to put pressure on France as 5 million of the masks were intended for rest of Europe but France seized all 6 million mask after March 5 and nothing still moves out of France.

Yesterday Molnlycke's CEO told Swedish press that they cannot anymore use their main warehouse in Lyon (production is in China and they distribute via three main warehouses in EU) to distribute masks to Italy - but instead use one in Belgium and then drive trucks to Italy without crossing borders to France. "It is extremely disturbing. Nothing that Molnlycke sends to France (From China) gets out, according to Richard Twomey Ceo of Molnlycke

source: https://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=83&artikel=7444848


Disgusting.

"One fifth of all surgical procedures in the EU use personal protective equipment imported from Asia by the Swedish company Mölnlycke. The company's main distribution warehouse for southern Europe, Belgium and the Netherlands is in Lyon.
Mölnlycke's entire stock of an estimated six million masks was seized by the French. All had been contracted for, including a million masks each for France, Italy and Spain. The rest were destined for Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland, which has special trading status with the EU."

www.irishtimes.com

Coronavirus: European solidarity sidelined as French interests take priority

Row over face masks exposes threat to EU principles of free trade and collaboration
www.irishtimes.com www.irishtimes.com

Edit, update: French sources suggest that "France eventually allowed two million masks which Mölnlycke had contracted to deliver to Italy and Spain to be shipped. French media reported that France donated one million masks to Italy in the spirit of solidarity. " (source link above), but this seems to contradict what Molnlycke's CEO is saying (they cannot move anything out of France) in yesterday's interview.
 
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Deleted member 5028

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El Bombastico said:
No, but I don't see the EU ever being the same after this, especially since I thought its entire purpose was to prevent shit like this from happening.
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Isn't this driven by the US doing that first as per the news yesterday?
www.resetera.com

Paid shipment of face masks intended for France 'bribed/hijacked' by US at the last minute, similar occurence happens to Canada as well

This is fucking disgraceful and sad. Radio Canada is also reporting the same occurred to a shipment destined for Montreal. This is no way to treat your closest historical ally, and another close one in France from overseas...
www.resetera.com www.resetera.com
 
nsilvias

nsilvias

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Oct 25, 2017
23,790
we really need to rethink outsourcing everything to other countries after this globally. not having the infrasture for all this has fucked everyone
 
Blue Ninja

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Solar Puffin said:
Could stuff like this possibly lead to things like wars breaking out over resources?
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No.

What will happen, however, is a severe strain on the EU . While you can understand most countries helping their own people first, this is just on a whole other level. This is one member state pretty much stealing from another, to help themselves rather than those most severely hit.
 
sweetmini

sweetmini

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Jun 12, 2019
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So to make it short:
President Macron signed an order or requisition to bring all masks on french soil to a common stockpile for distribution.
The foreign company still had its masks merchandise on french soil 2 days after signature so it was seized.

original post:

It was ugly, the french press and newscases quickly reminded about it after the news broke about the outbid of the plane of masks.
It was much earlier iirc, and france gave a portion of the seizing to italy and spain, keeping the rest as payment for the fine.

The French are bitches about proforma, if you don't declare what you transport, you can be heavily fined ans seized... cannot count the number of times i got a fine of "dédouannement".

I heard about it on BFMTV newscast yesterday morning.
Info should be available in all the french newspapers for those seeking timelines and specificities.

It happened March 5th:
www.lexpress.fr

Guerre des masques entre la Suède et la France

Après la saisie, à Lyon, de 4 millions de masques appartenant à une multinationale suédoise, le gouvernement du pays nordique est furieux.
www.lexpress.fr www.lexpress.fr

Tout commence le 5 mars lorsque la France réquisitionne, à Lyon, 4 millions de masques appartenant à l'entreprise suédoise Mölnlycke, un géant du secteur médical spécialisé dans les produits jetables (masques, blouses pour bloc opératoires, etc.). Deux jours auparavant, le président Emmanuel Macron a, en effet, signé un "décret de réquisition" permettant au gouvernement, comme en temps de guerre, de saisir tous stocks de produits et matériels se trouvant sur le territoire français afin de lutter contre le Covid-19.
 
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hans_castorp

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We really need to rethink the EU once all this is over. Germany has been stealing medical supplies from other countries for weeks...
 
thefit

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Oct 25, 2017
6,243
SlipperyFishes said:
Isn't this driven by the US doing that first as per the news yesterday?
www.resetera.com

Paid shipment of face masks intended for France 'bribed/hijacked' by US at the last minute, similar occurence happens to Canada as well

This is fucking disgraceful and sad. Radio Canada is also reporting the same occurred to a shipment destined for Montreal. This is no way to treat your closest historical ally, and another close one in France from overseas...
www.resetera.com www.resetera.com
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Pretty much with the US government acting in self interest even against its own states its failed once again to lead by positive example and its a free for all. The US is that asshole at the bottom climbing over other people that are also hanging on to each other trying to keep from falling off a cliff.
 
Kazooie

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Jul 17, 2019
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SlipperyFishes said:
Isn't this driven by the US doing that first as per the news yesterday?
www.resetera.com

Paid shipment of face masks intended for France 'bribed/hijacked' by US at the last minute, similar occurence happens to Canada as well

This is fucking disgraceful and sad. Radio Canada is also reporting the same occurred to a shipment destined for Montreal. This is no way to treat your closest historical ally, and another close one in France from overseas...
www.resetera.com www.resetera.com
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That's not the same though, that's more like California stealing from Texas.
 
sweetmini

sweetmini

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Jun 12, 2019
3,921
SlipperyFishes said:
Isn't this driven by the US doing that first as per the news yesterday?
www.resetera.com

Paid shipment of face masks intended for France 'bribed/hijacked' by US at the last minute, similar occurence happens to Canada as well

This is fucking disgraceful and sad. Radio Canada is also reporting the same occurred to a shipment destined for Montreal. This is no way to treat your closest historical ally, and another close one in France from overseas...
www.resetera.com www.resetera.com
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Not at all, it happened march 5th.

President Macron signed the order to put masks on french territory in stockpile to redistribution in the hard hit areas.
The foreign company still had it's masks on french territory 2 days after signing of the bill, so it was seized.
 

Deleted member 1476

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sweetmini

sweetmini

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Lishi said:
I think UE forced them to unblock the shipments.
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In March 15 the EU stepped in to react to the boiling situation:

EU limits on medical gear exports put poor countries and Europeans at risk

Faced with dangerous shortages at a time of health crisis, the European Union (EU) has announced emergency export restrictions on some hospital supplies that its medical workers need to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The unexpected policy limits European companies’ sales of an estimated $12.1...
www.piie.com www.piie.com
 
sweetmini

sweetmini

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Jun 12, 2019
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Palette Swap said:
Is this the one from a month ago or a newer occurrence ? OP's sources are unclear on that.
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The one from a month ago, before EU put a stop to what could have led to big tension if the transporters tried to defy the orders and continue not delivering directly to their customers but pass through other countries.
 
Majukun

Majukun

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Oct 27, 2017
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I alo think i heard italy did something similiar with some masks going to greece at the strat of this mess.

every country is in "diplomacy has failed" mode.
 
MegaManTrigger

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Oct 26, 2017
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nsilvias said:
we really need to rethink outsourcing everything to other countries after this globally. not having the infrasture for all this has fucked everyone
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Good luck. As long as labour is cheap in third-world countries, I don't see any way that will entice first-world countries to create their own manufacturing infrastructure.
 

Dilly

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Oct 26, 2017
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This crisis just keeps showing that globalisation only was interesting to line the pockets of certain people, and a disadvantage to everyone else.
 
Galkinator

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What the actual fuck. Is this going to be a continuous thing where countries sabotage each others' supply shipments?
 
Seneset

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Limbus Patrum
Galkinator said:
What the actual fuck. Is this going to be a continuous thing where countries sabotage each others' supply shipments?
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Poland and the Czech Republic stole Italy's shipment, Germany stole Denmark's million mask shipment. Austria ended up having to use their military to protect Italy's second shipment. Claims and denials all around though.

www.rfi.fr

Czech Republic sends face masks to Italy after China shipment 'stolen'

As world leaders call for solidarity in fighting the coronavirus, a shipment of hundreds of thousands of face masks from China to Italy was allegedly confiscated in the Czech Republic and then stolen,…
www.rfi.fr www.rfi.fr
notesfrompoland.com

Poland denies seizing 23,000 face masks destined for Italy

Authorities in the Lazio region claim the masks were seized by Polish customs.
notesfrompoland.com notesfrompoland.com
politiken.dk

En million masker var på vej til Fyn – men så forsvandt de i Tyskland

Hospitalerne i Odense og Aalborg mangler masker og visirer og beder derfor medarbejdere om ikke at bruge værnemidler. Hver femte sygeplejerske oplever i øjeblikket knaphed på beskyttelsesudstyr – men mandag aften kom der uventet hjælp fra Kina.
politiken.dk politiken.dk

Edited: Updated country name.
 
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sweetmini

sweetmini

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Sidewinder said:
Fucking hell France? Guess Macron doesn't want more EU after all... disgusting.
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It was a month ago.
France, Germany and Czech republic each signed a seizure order for critical medical resources march 3 to march 5th.
As i understand it the application was delayed by few days so transport company reroute their cargo, but it was too late for some, or some didn't care and thought they could pass through the net (which is poor understanding of the French customs relentlessness when they seek for something).

March 15th EU wrote a directive mulling these to replace with a EU wide thing.
 
BKLorenzo

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In my life, I've learned to never trust a frenchman. NEVER
 
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Deleted member 31133

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I am actually shocked with this news. I thought Macron was better than this.

I wanted the EU to come out stronger from this crisis. I thought this crisis would lead to member states helping each other and then speeding up the creation of the USE. Seems like I was very wrong.

The dream of a United States of Europe seems further away than ever.
 
sweetmini

sweetmini

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Retroarnold said:
I am actually shocked with this news. I thought Macron was better than this.

I wanted the EU to come out stronger from this crisis. I thought this crisis would lead to member states helping each other and then speeding up the creation of the USE. Seems like I was very wrong.

The dream of a United States of Europe seems further away than ever.
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As much as i posted to put more lights in this thread... Macron is not a good Person to me.
He destroyed symbols of French equality on the profitability altar. I am bitter by some of his first acts as President.

A man can change... we'll see...
 
Astandahl

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Dilly said:
This crisis just keeps showing that globalisation only was interesting to line the pockets of certain people, and a disadvantage to everyone else.
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Yes. Also things are gonna get even worse if EU countries will be forced to use the ESM.

People are just waking up. United States of Europe will never exist because there is no political union ( never was and never will be ) . This crisis is just another example ( happened the same in 2011 ) .
 

Lishi

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sweetmini said:
As much as i posted to put more lights in this thread... Macron is not a good Person to me.
He destroyed symbols of French equality on the profitability altar. I am bitter by some of his first acts as President.

A man can change... we'll see...
Click to expand...
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I only remember that the alternative was a turd.
I don't think people really liked him like ever.
 
OP
OP

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sweetmini said:
Seizing of Mölnlycke's cargo was March 5th according to this french newspaper:
www.lexpress.fr

Guerre des masques entre la Suède et la France

Après la saisie, à Lyon, de 4 millions de masques appartenant à une multinationale suédoise, le gouvernement du pays nordique est furieux.
www.lexpress.fr www.lexpress.fr
Click to expand...
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yes. but the interview where he says the shipment is still seized and they cannot use Lyon warehouse is from yesterday.

www.expressen.se

Skyddsutrustning beslagtogs i Frankrike: ”Extremt störande”

Dödsfallen fortsätter öka kraftigt i Spanien. På fredagen rapporterade landets myndigheter ytterligare 932 avlidna i covid-19. Det totala antalet döda i coronasmittan är nära 11 000.
www.expressen.se www.expressen.se

www.gp.se

Sverige överväger anmäla Frankrike för masker

Fyra miljoner skyddsmasker som Mölnlycke importerat från Kina har stoppats i Frankrike. Den svenska regeringen överväger att anmäla ärendet till EU-kommissionen som ett regelbrott.<br>– Det kan vara dags för det tunga artilleriet, säger utrikeshandelsminister Anna Hallberg (S).
www.gp.se www.gp.se

www.svd.se

Sverige pressar Frankrike att lämna tillbaka masker | SvD

Miljontals ansiktsmasker från Mölnlycke har beslagtagits av Frankrike. Regeringen ser allvarligt på händelsen och säger till SvD att man förväntar sig att Frankrike ”snarast” lämnar tillbaka produkterna.
www.svd.se www.svd.se
 
DCPat

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Astandahl said:
Yes. Also things are gonna get even worse if EU countries will be forced to use the ESM.

People are just waking up. United States of Europe will never exist because there is no political union ( never was and never will be ) . This crisis is just another example ( happened the same in 2011 ) .
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Why can't we just like each other :(
 
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