MEPs Call on EU Commission President to Resign for 'Hiding Pfizer Texts'

A group of MEPs have called on the European Commission President to resign over allegations she attempted to hide texts sent between her and the head of pharma giant Pfizer.

MEPs from across the EU have called upon the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, to resign over accusations she hid text conversations between her and the head of vaccine manufacturer Pfizer.

Von der Leyen has already previously been rebuked by the European Ombudsman over the scandal involving her correspondence with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, with the Europan Commission being found guilty of “maladministration” over its handling of a request for the messages.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Cristian Terheș MEP, Ivan Vilibor Sinčić MEP, Stasys Jakeliūnas MEP, Virginie Joron MEP and Christine Anderson MEP all called upon the Commission president to resign over the scandal, while also voicing their collective opposition to the continued use of the EU Digital Covid Certificate, as well as mandatory COVID vaccination.

“Is this the kind of Europe that we want?” asked Romanian MEP Cristian Terheș, continuing “Where an unelected by the people president of the European Commission is ‘negotiating’ — personally — with the head of a private company that will affect our basic fundamental human rights?”

Terheș went on to denounce what he described as the “backdoor deals” going on within the European Union, as well as the lack of transparency within the body, referencing the censored public release of contracts which were agreed between the multinational block and vaccine manufacturers.

“This is the great transparency of the European Union,” the Romanian MEP said, holding up pages reportedly from EU contracts with jab manufacturers consisting of mostly black censor bars.

The Romanian MEP went on to insist that Europe was “in a deep crisis” over a lack of transparency and a lack of support for European and western values.

“It’s in a crisis of leadership, and it is in a crisis of accountability,” he said regarding the bloc.

Ivan Vilibor Sinčić, a Croatian MEP, also called out the actions of von der Leyen and the Commission.

“What we have here is a pandemic of corruption,” Sinčić asserted, claiming that Europeans were “tired of not just health crisis, but economic crisis, democratic deficit, and everything else.”

“What we need in Europe is accountability,” the Croatian MEP stated, calling for “full investigations” into corruption and a lack of transparency within the union.

The question of European accountability once again reared its head after a ruling by the European Ombudsman found that the Commission guilty of “maladministration” over its handling of a request for text messages sent between President von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla.

According to a Politico report, the request was not properly handled, and as such the relevant documents were not discovered.

“This falls short of reasonable expectations of transparency and administrative standards in the Commission,” Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly said in a statement, who rejected an argument from the commission that information sent over text or instant messaging would not fall under EU transparency rules.

“When it comes to the right of public access to EU documents, it is the content of the document that matters and not the device or form,” the Ombudsman reportedly said. “If text messages concern EU policies and decisions, they should be treated as EU documents.”

This is not the first time von der Leyen has found herself embroiled in a transparency scandal, with The Guardian reporting that the now-Commission President was previously forced to deny she had anything to hide when it emerged that one of the phones she was using during her time as German defence minister had been wiped.

This is despite the fact that the device had been requested by a German parliamentary committee.

While Terheș emphasised that those gathered in the conference room on Wednesday were not prosecutors, he claimed that it was the “appearance” that mattered when it came to the controversies surrounding the Commission President.

“We already have two investigations here that are proving that Ursula von der Leyen is clearly not fit for this office,” the Romanian MEP said.

“I join my colleagues, and publicly demand the immediate resignation of Ursula von der Leyen,” he continued. “Allow this union to be led by a person who truly believes in the European values — in transparency, and in respect for fundamental rights.”