The Liège pre-trial chamber has postponed the case involving a criminal complaint against European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (EPP) to the 6 December later this year.
A Belgian citizen filed the complaint in April 2023 with the Liège Public Prosector’s Office, citing "usurpation of office and title", "destruction of public documents" and "unlawful benefit-taking and corruption". The case is also against Pfizer, its CEO and vaccine developer BioNTech.
The man accuses the European Commission president of refusing to disclose text messages exchanged with Pfizer CEO, Albert Bourla, during vaccine mega-contract negotiations.
The contract, which revolved around the purchase of up to 1.8 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses beginning from Spring 2021, was estimated at €35 billion at the time. The text-message exchange sparked controversy, leading to an intervention by the EU Ombudsman.
The complainant alleges that von der Leyen overstepped her role by negotiating vaccines on behalf of the Belgian government; suspects her of gaining benefits from the negotiation, and accuses her of deleting the aforementioned text messages.
At the hearing on Friday, the case was deferred to the 6 December to allow the parties time to address several technical issues, particularly the jurisdiction of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in this matter, which von der Leyen's accusers believe should not be involved.
The man, Frédéric Baldan, is a 35-year-old European lobbyist specialising in trade relations between the EU and China. Baldan told Follow the Money that "the EPPO does not have the power to handle this case, as the vaccines were bought with Member State money."
The court will reconvene in December, but the European Commission's term is ending next month. However, von der Leyen is re-running as the lead candidate for the conservative group European People's Party (EPP). She hopes to be reinstalled as European Commission President despite not running as an MEP in the European Parliament elections.
