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Multiple social media posts, including many on Facebook (here,herehere), claim thatBritishPrime Minister Boris Johnson refused an offer of 50,000 ventilators from the EuropeanUnion. The UK did not join an initial effort byEuropean Union member states to jointly procure medical supplies, including ventilators. But the nature of the procurement process means thatthe EU could not offerany country aspecificnumber of ventilators.

The European Commission launched a joint procurement procedure on March 17, 2020 to secure ventilators on behalf of European Union member states (here). The UK did not take part in this initiative,having missed a deadline to participate (here).

Owing to an initial communication problem, the UK did not receive an invitation in time to join in four joint procurements in response to the coronavirus pandemic, a UK government spokesman said in a statement (here). As those four initial procurement schemes had already gone out to tender, we were unable to take part in these but we will consider participating in future procurement schemeson the basis ofpublic health requirements at the time.

StefanDeKeersmaecker, aspokesmanat theEuropeanCommission, told Reuters:For this joint procurement,suppliers still have to sign a framework contract, andmemberstates have to place their orders. When placing these orders, thememberstates and the suppliers will negotiate the quantities and deadlines for deliveries.In the context of this joint procurement,it is therefore not the Commission itself which is offering ventilators.

False: an offer of 50,000 ventilators was not made to the UK Governmentby the European Union.It is not yet clear how many ventilators can be secured bytheEuropean Union joint procurementscheme.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact checking workhere

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False claim: Boris Johnson refused offer of 50,000 ventilators from the European Union - Reuters