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The top ranks of the European Parliament have closed the door Public cross-examination of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on her personal role in negotiating the multi-billion euro vaccine deal with Pfizer.
last month, lawmakers on parliament’s special committee on COVID-19 proposed inviting von der Leyen to answer questions on the EU’s largest vaccine contract, which was signed at the height of the pandemic. He is said to have exchanged prior to this contract original message With Albert Bourla, chief executive of Pfizer.
However, at a closed-door meeting of the Conference of Presidents (COP) on Thursday – which includes heads of all political groups and the speaker of parliament – the leaders refused the request to hold the meeting. public grilling, Instead they decided to ask von der Leyen to answer questions privately at some point in the future, making the invitation almost worthless.
“It was agreed that the COP would be able to raise … [the Parliament’s COVID-19 committee’s] concerns at his next regular meeting with the Commission President,” said an EU official with knowledge of the confidential discussions.
It’s an ironic twist that the controversy surrounding von der Leyen’s talks with Pfizer has focused precisely on the lack of transparency. Now, any discussion that eventually takes place will In front of high-ranking MEPs and away from the public eye.
The European People’s Party MEP in the room, Siegfried Muresen, rejected the suggestion that the group was protecting von der Leyen. – also associated with EPP – as a “conclusion in pursuit of logic”.
“The broad consensus was that we are negotiating with [and] It should continue in the format that has worked so far and that we have established,” he told POLITICO.
accountability… or not
The decision is a defeat for the European Parliament’s special COVID-19 committee, led by Belgian socialist MEP Kathleen Van Brempt, which put pressure on European Parliament President Roberta Metsola at von der Leyen’s invitation. A number of different ideas were put forward, from a public session before the committee to joint hearings at the Conference of Presidents, on how the chairperson of the commission could make his appearance.
But Van Brampt’s own S&D group supported the push to hold discussions at the COP only behind closed doors, according to a spokesman. Renew Europe, the third largest force, also shared the EPP and S&D position.
Two groups – the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists group and the far-right Identity and Democracy groups – called for greater accountability for von der Leyen to either address a full plenary session or speak before a dedicated COVID panel.
And, after the meeting, a spokesman for the left-wing group said: “It is good that she has come to the CoP to talk about it, but we think that Parliament should also hold a public hearing with the VDL, not That only the convention of presidents.”
MEPs’ response to the COVID-19 committee, which will now be completely disbanded, is clear: they are not happy.
Dutch MEP Robert Roos, the COVID committee coordinator for the ECR group, called it a “disgraceful decision”.
“Von der Leyen negotiated a multi-billion dollar deal with EU taxpayers’ money. As the European Parliament, we must be able to hold him accountable. Only a top secret meeting with the presidents of the political groups There is no accountability,” he said.
French MEP Michel Rivassi of the Greens group, vice-chair of the COVID-19 committee, said top EU officials were trying to “keep it in the family”.
Another committee member from the ECR group, Christian Teresh, said: “The reason for creating this COVID committee was to find out what happened and why. Well, they should come and answer questions.”
A separate proposal to cancel Pfizer Lobbyists’ access to the European Parliament, in response to its chief executive Albert Bourla refuse to appear According to Rivasi’s office, the COP was also shot in front of the COVID-19 committee on Thursday.
a big deal
COVID committee MEPs wanted to question Commission boss about this unusual personal role He negotiated what turned out to be the EU’s biggest vaccine deal ever. Worth an estimated €35 billion when fully used, this is for 900 million doses of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine, with the possibility of buying another 900 million.
millions of those same doses are now sitting unused In warehouses throughout the European Union for landfill. the negotiators are tough trying to make concessions to cancel or halt those deliveries from Pfizer, apparently with little success.
as reported by new York TimesVon der Leyen exchanged direct text messages with Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla to help Hash last until the contract, which closes in April 2021. the same american newspaper is now trial To release those text messages to the public.
A possible European Public Prosecutor’s Office investigation into von der Leyen’s conduct has added fuel to the fire. In October announced body It was officially looking into vaccine talks, without saying whether it was a top commission official in its crosshairs,