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On Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizergate

By Lars Patrick Berg MEP

According to a report by the news platform Euractiv, a Belgian lobbyist has filed a lawsuit against a second term of office of the President of the European Commission.

Today, Ursula von der Leyen had to appear in an expedited public hearing before the Brussels Court of First Instance. In a 20-page document, the court was presented with reasons that speak against the candidacy of the EPP’s top candidate. The plaintiff is not unknown and is also behind the criminal complaint against von der Leyen in the Pfizergate case, which was postponed until December.

The proceedings are unlikely to be successful in legal terms, but it is clear that the plaintiff is factually correct in many of his criticisms. Ursula von der Leyen has violated the Code of Conduct for Members of the European Commission and the Code of Conduct for Members of her own party in numerous cases, particularly during the Corona pandemic.

Her non-transparent handling of taxpayers’ money during the Corona pandemic is increasingly proving to be representative of the Commission President’s understanding of politics. Before the European elections, the outstretched hand was emphasized towards the European Conservatives and Reformists group, but now there is an increased desire for dialogue with the Greens and Socialists in the European Parliament.

It remains questionable whether the numerous election campaign promises of the Union and the EPP, which included a withdrawal of the ideological ban on combustion engines and a comprehensive reform of European migration and asylum policy, will actually be worth the paper they are written on.

On June 9, the citizens of the EU made it clear that they reject the policies of the Greens and the Green Deal in its current form. Politics has a duty, above all, to make people’s lives easier, safer and more affordable. If von der Leyen now decides to work with the Greens and some radical leftists again, voters will be disappointed once again. The main beneficiaries will be the radical fringes in Parliament, whose strength is the result of numerous ideological plans and projects that contradict the European treaties and the founding spirit of the EU.

 

 

Copyright picture: By European People’s Party – EPP Athens, 2-3 December, 2022, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=126278869