In December 2014, some patriotic Belgians protested austerity measures by pelting the country’s prime minister, Charles Michel, with the country’s national dish, chips and mayonnaise. Michel’s good-natured response to the attack seemed to prove his unflappability.

Five years later, Michel traded the premiership of Belgium for the presidency of the European Council. Not long into his new role, the pandemic struck and, faced with weightier problems than chips, Michel’s unflappability appears to be faltering.

German, Polish, Austrian, and Hungarian leaders have all recently criticised the EU’s sluggish distribution of vaccinations. Yet, Michel yesterday issued a statement arguing the bloc was “well placed to lead the field in a marathon”. He criticised Russia and China for using their vaccines for “propaganda” purposes and claimed the UK and US had imposed an “outright ban” on vaccine exports. The UK’s foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, quickly rebutted this as “completely false”. Michel said the EU “has never stopped exporting”. This too is difficult to maintain: last week, Italy, with the EU’s approval, used an EU mechanism to block the shipment of 250,000 vaccine doses to Australia.

The EU is an international body and distribution problems in member states make a consistent roll-out more difficult than it has proven in a country like the UK. But, as some member states take matters into their own hands, pressure on the EU is growing.

Hungary has begun to use vaccines from countries outside the EU, including Michel’s targets of Russia and China. Within the EU, Hungary is now second only to Malta in vaccinations. In the past few days, Denmark, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic have all joined Hungary in seeking vaccines outside the EU.

EU leaders face growing internal criticism for their handling of vaccines. If member states can tackle Covid more effectively by breaking rank with the bloc, that criticism will prove insuperable. That’s why Michel has chosen to speak now and to speak loudly: he’s picking an external fight to distract from a growing internal one.

Unless, against all odds, the EU can “lead the field in a marathon” very soon, Michel’s boldness will reap little more than international embarrassment and further internal disquiet. As a former president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said: “When things get serious, you have to know how to lie.”

Things have got serious for the EU. Charles Michel’s trouble is, to paraphrase Juncker, that he doesn’t know how to lie.