The legal clouds no longer hover over Ursula von der Leyen. Belgian justice has declared inadmissible a series of complaints implicating the President of the European Commission for purchases of vaccines against Covid-19 negotiated on behalf of the EU, at the time of the pandemic, with the American laboratory Pfizer .
Adrien Masset, Belgian lawyer for Ursula von der Leyen, indicated on Tuesday that Belgian lobbyist Frédéric Baldan had been dismissed from his legal action brought in 2023 in Liège, his town of residence. “Mr. Baldan’s complaint was declared inadmissible because he could not prove the personal harm suffered, which also invalidated the subsequently attached complaints,” said another source close to the case.
SMS at the heart of criticism
After Frédéric Baldan, various associations and personalities opposed to vaccines, as well as Hungary and Poland, had become civil parties in the case. Everyone considered themselves victims of the attitude of the President of the Commission, accused of an exchange of SMS messages with the CEO of Pfizer Albert Bourla, the content of which she never wanted to reveal.
In his complaint filed in April 2023, Frédéric Baldan accused the German official of having “secretly” negotiated a large vaccine contract with Albert Bourla during the pandemic. This “without any mandate” from the 27 member countries of the EU, according to him.
Frédéric Baldan, who manages a consulting firm specializing in Sino-European relations, claims to have had his lobbyist accreditation withdrawn from the European Parliament in the summer of 2023 after questioning the integrity of the President of the European Commission. He believes he was the victim of “reprisals” and has increased his legal actions over the past two years, in Belgium and before the EU justice system in Luxembourg.
-Investigations still ongoing
In reaction to the inadmissibility of his complaint, he accused the Liège Court of Appeal on Tuesday of “organizing the impunity” of Ursula von der Leyen. “The EU has today become an area of unfreedom, insecurity and injustice,” he said. For his part, Mr. Masset was pleased that the Liège Court of Appeal had “proved the complainants wrong across the board: there was no validly launched public action”. The lawyer also stressed that the plaintiffs had “wrongly criticized” the ongoing investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Our file on the European Union
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office, an independent EU body responsible in particular for combating fraud with Union funds, announced in October 2022 the opening of an investigation into vaccine purchases. Investigations continue.
