The European Parliament has decided to hold a hearing on the EU’s Covid vaccine procurement negotiations behind closed doors.
A possible cross-examination of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen concerning her role in a deal with Pfizer will therefore not take place in public, if it takes place at all.
Parliament leaders have reportedly decided “to ask von der Leyen to answer questions in private at some point in the future, watering down the invitation to almost nothing“.
The Commission has already been found guilty of maladministration for its failure, or inability, to find SMS messages between the President and a Pfizer executive.
While slammed as “disgraceful” by one Euro MP, the decision will come as no surprise by old hands in Brussels given the tightly intermeshed daily relationships between the Parliament and Commission at every level.
The EU is “mired in sleaze”, wrote the Spectator on February 16, noting the “maladministration” involving European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who has been unable or unwilling to reveal text message exchanges with a Pfizer executive during negotiations on the procurement of Covid vaccines.
Von der Leyen’s hesitancy has led to her being dubbed “Ursula Von der Pfizer” by French radio station Europe 1, which also asked why Brussels-based journalists had not done more to hold the President to account. Is there an “incestuous” relationship between the Brussels press corps and the executive, one journalist asked?
In the history of the EU, the Parliament has only once used its powers to bring down the Commission.
