In early 2021, the entire European Union was under lockdown. Governments were prohibiting citizens from participating in society without the vaccination, and the EU’s largest supplier at the time, AstraZeneca, was unable to meet production needs. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen awarded Pfizer a €35 billion contract, personally, bypassing the proper channels in an apparent conflict of interest. Not only was she responsible for negotiating the deal, but she was also responsible for implementing the protocols.
In a backdoor deal, Von der Leyen negotiated the lucrative agreement directly with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla on her personal cell phone, bypassing the traditional processes in place for transparency. Pfizer then became Europe’s leading supplier of the COVID-19 vaccine and was awarded €35 billion in public funds. All of this was done secretly and highlighted the immense power that Ursula had amassed through a growing centralized government–she is no longer pretending that there is a democracy in the EU. There were Hillary’s emails, and now there are Von der Leyen’s text messages to Bourla.
The New York Times journalist Matina Stevis-Gridneff first broke the story in April 2021, revealing that Bourla and Von der Leyen had been personally corresponding for a month before the EU, represented by Ursula alone, awarded Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, the bloc’s first regulatory approval. The contract provided the EU with 900 million doses through 2023, with the option to order an additional 900 million.
Matina Stevis-Gridneff submitted a request to the European Commission for access to the text exchanges but was denied. The EC claimed they did not have access to those messages. Although she brokered a deal to provide billions in taxpayer funds to an American corporation, the court maintained that the public was not entitled to view those messages or know the nature of the deal. This completely eroded public trust and confidence, at least for those who were paying attention, and especially for those who witnessed the significant power the EU had usurped over member nations.
The case later went to the EU’s General Court, which concluded that the European Commission’s claim that it did not possess the requested text messages demonstrated a lack of credibility and transparency, declaring that those messages should be considered official EU documents. “The public has a right to know how this deal was made, and that includes text messages with the Pfizer CEO,” the court ruled. Watchdog groups hailed the ruling as a victory for transparency.
There are now members of the European Parliament who believe she should step down from her position due to the ordeal. Romanian MEP Gheorghe Piperea plans to collect the required 72 signatures and submit a no-confidence motion. Over two-thirds of MEPs present would need to collectively vote to remove von der Leyen, which could prove difficult as she secured the support of 401 of the 720 members during the last election. However, her popularity is waning, and politics are increasingly divisive. The bureaucrats in the European Union wield immense power over all member nations to the point that individual European countries have no sovereignty.
