In 2021, the European Union purchased 1.8 billion doses of Covid vaccine from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. The negotiation would also have taken place through private messages between the president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla. Now, the case is in the hands of the European Prosecutor’s Office, and Pfizergate risks compromising von der Leyen’s political position.
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There is a new scandal that risks involving the European institutions, and in this case the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. It’s about what the newspapers are calling Pfizergate, or a case linked to the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. The news revealed yesterday by Politico is that the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has taken charge of an investigation into the alleged exchange of messages between von der Leyen and the CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, during the negotiations for the purchase of anti-Covid vaccines by the European Union.
The hypotheses of crime they are interference in public functions, destruction of text messages, corruption and conflict of interest. At the moment no one would be officially accused, but it is clear that the matter concerns von der Leyen, a few months before the European elections which could lead to a second term as president of the EU Commission.
How the Pfizergate case came about and what role Ursula von der Leyen would have
The deal in question took place in 2021, when the pandemic was at its peak. Vaccines already existed, but there wasn’t enough of them to meet global demand. In April, the European Commission announced that negotiations with Pfizer had begun, and in May thepurchase of 1.8 billion vaccine doses. The largest supply obtained from the European Union. At the time this was seen as a political success, although over time some have argued that too much money was spent, not least because many doses in subsequent years were never used.
Now Minister Schillaci is thinking of a commission on the adverse effects of the anti-Covid vaccine
In 2023, a 36-year-old Belgian lobbyist named Frédéric Baldan leaned complaint against von der Leyen at the Liège Prosecutor’s Office. Baldan, who was linked to the Bon Sens group (with anti-vax positions) denounced the president of the Commission for her role in the negotiations, claiming precisely that there had been an exchange of private messages between her and Bourla to negotiate the purchase of dozens of billions of euros. Also in 2023, the New York Times – the first newspaper to reveal the case – sued the European Commission because it had not revealed the content of these messages despite a formal request. The newspaper’s complaint, however, is not part of the case that the European Public Prosecutor’s Office is now following.
The Hungarian and Polish governments also joined the Belgian Baldan’s complaint (with separate but similar reports). As reported by Politico, however, the Polish government took a step back after Donald Tusk’s election victory. The investigation continued and has been ongoing for several months passed from the Belgian Prosecutor’s Office to the Eppo, which could also seize the material necessary to continue the investigation. So far, in official forums, the Commission has neither revealed the content of the text messages nor confirmed their existence.
Lega: “Deafening silence from the Commission”
The case, as mentioned, also comes at a delicate moment on an electoral level: the European elections are just over two months away, and von der Leyen has already received his party (the Popolari, which includes Forza Italia) for a second mandate at the helm of the Commission. Today the League intervened with a note commenting on the matter: “We were the first, after the independent journalistic investigations, to present questions, to ask for the case to be brought to Parliament, to ask for clarifications in all the competent offices, always clashing with The deafening silence from this European Commission and the majority that supports it. Von der Leyen cannot continue to remain silent on the issue and pretend nothing happened”, wrote MEPs Marca Zanni (president of the Identity and Democracy group) and Marzo Campomenosi (head of the Northern League delegation).
