The European Court of Justice will hear the corruption case against European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on November 15, regarding the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines, reports the Financial Times, citing anonymous sources. The 15-judge panel will allegedly examine whether she unlawfully withheld private text messages exchanged with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla.
At the height of the pandemic, the commission proposed a joint purchase of billions of vaccine doses to distribute them among EU member states fighting to contain Covid-19. Brussels made deals worth approximately 2.7 billion euros with vaccine manufacturers in 2020 and 2021.
Von der Leyen is believed to have played a key role in organizing the procurement, as critics argue that the negotiations were far from transparent.
Albert Bourla confirmed that he and von der Leyen did exchange private messages, and that the European Commission President told him she was personally involved in negotiating the vaccine purchase contracts.
The EU court is expected to ask commission representatives next month whether the messages at the heart of the case ever existed and, if so, whether they were later deleted and why.
Translated and edited by L. Earth
