The German will, however, not be able to chair the first meeting of the college of commissioners of the year. She therefore asked the Spanish Teresa Ribera, first executive vice-president of the von der Leyen II team, to lead the college meeting which will be held on Wednesday in Brussels, said Ms. Pinho. The Commission’s indicative agenda provided for the college to discuss, then present, this Wednesday, the Competitiveness Compass, indicating how it intends to translate into concrete actions the recommendations of the report on the subject presented last fall by Mario Draghi. The presentation of this flagship initiative of the new European legislature has been postponed until later. Not because of the absence of the president, assures Ms. Pinho, but because the file “is not ripe”. There you go.
A lie of omission? “Yes, but no”, defends the Commission
Ursula von der Leyen’s illness is so serious that she required hospitalization for a week, the German press agency DPA revealed last Friday. A situation which the Commission did not consider necessary to report. The latter denies having lacked transparency.
Ursula von der Leyen suffers from pneumonia: “The president has canceled her external meetings for the first two weeks of January”
“We have transmitted essential critical information on the state of health of the president”screenwriter Paula Pinho. “We said what illness she was suffering from and what the level of severity was. We also clarified that the president was able to carry out her duties by remaining in daily contact with her team and with European leaders if necessary”for example with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, with whom Ursula von der Leyen had a telephone conversation.
-“We have never questioned his ability to carry out his duties”added the spokesperson. “If that had been the case, the communication would have been different”. And to affirm that Ursula von der Leyen, aged 66, was never placed on a respirator or sent to intensive care.
History, however, still does not tell why the Commission did not say that its president had been hospitalized and only decided to confirm it once the information was published by the DPA news agency.
Resumption of necklace next week
“The president plans to resume her external meetings by the end of this week. She will notably participate in the World Economic Forum in Davos next week, and will be in Strasbourg for the plenary session of the European Parliament”said Paula Pinho. She will not be at the inauguration ceremony of American President Donald Trump on January 20, but was not invited anyway.
