Ursula van der Leyen suffered a setback this Wednesday, ahead of her (or not) re-election by the European Parliament as head of the Commission, when the General Court of the European Union ruled that she had not been transparent with the German people regarding the Covid-19 vaccine deals.
In the court’s view, the European Commission was wrong to redact the details of the million-dollar contracts it signed to guarantee access to vaccines, and failed the “public interest” test by keeping the names of EU officials involved in the process secret. . Ursula von der Leyen’s Executive has failed to demonstrate how disclosing details of further potential compensation would harm the commercial interests of pharmaceutical groups involved in the vaccine business, the EU’s General Court says.
The decision represents a victory for MEPs and individuals after the commission, led by Ursula van der Leyen, heard details of contracts worth €2.7 billion negotiated between 2020 and 2021 – which faced issues such as maintaining secrecy and deleting text messages. He released only redacted versions of the agreements he signed — with Pfizer’s chief — about vaccine purchases.
At the same time, it represents a setback for the German woman, who today has her political future in the hands of the European Parliament – she needs 361 votes out of 720 MEPs to be re-elected for a second term. Election by secret ballot and it must be close. Something the German woman is already used to, five years ago she won her election by nine votes. “It was a vote, a secret vote, so we never knew who might betray or fail to honor their obligations,” recalled Pascale Jonin, director of the Robert Schuman Foundation.
The European People’s Party, the German political family, is the largest force in parliament with 188 elected representatives. It is expected to get enough votes, with the Socialists and Democrats (136) and the liberals Renew Europe (77). A fraction of these groups’ representatives could vote against van der Leyen, but he believes elected officials from other groups will make up the difference, such as the Greens and the far-right European Conservatives and Reformists. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her Czech MEPs have already backed her.
On Tuesday, Antonio Costa, the future president of the European Council, met the S&D group in Strasbourg – which includes undecided voters such as the eight Portuguese Socialists – “to express support for the election of President Ursula van der Leyen”.
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