"came across this online, as not much in the mainstream in the uk ... seems quite a few leaders were in on the pfizer gravy train
In April 2021, the New York Times broke the ‘Pfizergate’ story, revealing that von der Leyen had negotiated a contract for 1.8 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses during the pandemic with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla through mobile phone texts that remain undisclosed to this day.
In June 2022, the European Ombudsman concluded that the contract negotiation was a case of ‘maladministration’.
The New York Times referred the ongoing case to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in February 2023.
In April 2023, Frédéric Baldan, a Belgian lobbyist specialising in China-EU trade relations, filed a complaint against von der Leyen with a judge in Liège, accusing her of usurping functions and titles, destroying public documents, unlawful taking of interest, and corruption.
The complaint concerns the negotiation by von der Leyen and the Pfizer CEO by SMS of the third vaccine purchase contract in May 2021.
The Belgian lobbyist believes that the way these discussions took place harmed his country’s public finances and confidence in the EU institutions.
Speaking at a press conference with his lawyer on Saturday (18 May), Baldan added that von der Leyen had not complied with the European Commissioners’ code of conduct and that her immunity should, therefore, have been lifted. However, she is still in office and is running for a second term.
In addition to the issues in the negotiating process, he also denounced the contracts’ lack of clarity and their not being disclosed for commercial secrecy reasons, which contradicted the EU Treaties, which enshrine the right to transparency.
Several associations, political parties, European citizens, and member states, such as Hungary and Poland (under the previous PiS-led government), have joined the complaint.
Last month, Euractiv reported that a hearing was to be held on 17 May. There, the plaintiffs, von der Leyen, Bourla, both Pfizer Inc. and Pfizer Hungary, and BIONTECH were to be heard
do a quick search for the link as unsure if its allowed."
I thought such actions were for the UK politicians only especially Tories and that we need the EU to protect us from such things. So much for that |
