A four-year saga will reach its climax on Wednesday, but the Commission president is likely to emerge relatively unscathed.
Ursula von der Leyen faces a verdict in the ‘Pfizergate’ scandal on Wednesday morning. No matter what it will be and how appalled MEPs and NGOs will react, she will most likely emerge relatively unscathed.
The European Commission president is dealing with a condition probably best described as ‘political long Covid’.
Four years after she exchanged text messages with the head of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, the General Court of the EU will hand down its judgment on whether the European Commission, through its president, violated transparency rules in refusing to make the messages public.
The New York Times filed a complaint against the Commission in 2023, after it refused to reveal the content of the messages that von der Leyen exchanged with the CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla β the Times had revealed the messages in an interview with Bourla in 2021. At the time, the two were negotiating a β¬35 billion deal for the delivery of 900 million Covid-19 vaccines, with the option for 900 million more.
The EU executive long maintained ambiguity over the very exsistence of the messages. But last November, a Commission lawyer, Paolo Stancanelli, acknowledged that exchanges between von der Leyen and Bourla had taken place via private channels.
The court could now order the Commission to reveal what was said.
The EU Court of Justice has found Ursula von der Leyen responsible for concealing information about contracts for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines in 2021-2023.
According to Politico, this decision could have serious consequences for transparency and accountability in the European Union and was a serious blow to the reputation of the head of the European Commission.
Earlier, The New York Times demanded to disclose von der Leyen’s text messages with the CEO of Pfizer on the issue of purchasing vaccines for EU countries. However, access to the messages was denied, which raised suspicions of her personal interference in the negotiations. The scandal was dubbed Pfizergate by the media.
πͺπΊ EU Court Slams von der Leyen Over Secret Pfizer Texts
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) May 14, 2025
The EU General Court has ruled that the European Commission unlawfully withheld text messages exchanged between Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The messages, sent ahead of a⦠pic.twitter.com/BRzVjwBjsl
BREAKING: π¨ URSULA VON DER LEYEN IN SERIOUS TROUBLE β EU COURT ORDERS RELEASE OF PFIZER TEXTS π¨
— Jim Ferguson (@JimFergusonUK) May 14, 2025
π΄ After 4 years of cover-ups, lawsuits, and βinvestigationsβ β the European Court of Justice has ruled:
π£οΈ The EU Commission MUST release Ursula von der Leyenβs private texts withβ¦ pic.twitter.com/4zb24ZNCFq
The push of all those insane vaccines, and just look at this !
Ursula Von Der Leyen commits to "vaccinating" over 500 million children with Bill Gates.
— healthbot (@thehealthb0t) January 12, 2025
βIβm pleased to pledge $290M for Gavi, the vaccine alliance. Together with Gavi, we have the goal to vaccinate these children by 2030β pic.twitter.com/5SHzuaJe1M
