“It is no secret that I was in contact with top representatives of the companies producing the vaccines that would get us out of the crisis … just as I sought advice from the best epidemiologists or virologists in the world,” she told the European Parliament on Monday.
While the Commission had argued that the texts were too boring to warrant being released, the case became a flashpoint for transparency activists and right-wing groups. They argued that it demonstrated von der Leyen’s Commission was a particularly unaccountable one.
“The implication that these contracts were somehow inappropriate against the European interests is, by any measure, simply wrong,” von der Leyen said.
No secrets, no hidden clauses
The debate of no-confidence in von der Leyen — the first for a Commission president since 2014 — was triggered by right-wing Romanian MEP, Gheorghe Piperea, over the Pfizergate scandal.
But von der Leyen was unrepentant, sticking to the Commission’s previous line and without giving any additional information on what was actually included within texts ― which we still may never see.
“Contract negotiations were conducted by the Commission and member states together,” she said. “Every single contract negotiated was examined in detail in the capitals before being signed by each of the 27 member states.