The European Parliament’s special committee on COVID-19 is launching proceedings to revoke Pfizer’s lobbying badges and deny lobbyists for the pharmaceutical giant access to the European Parliament.
This was reported by Belgian MEP Kathleen Van Brempt (Vooruit), who chairs the committee.
The move comes after the second refusal by Pfizer's CEO, Dr. Albert Bourla, to appear at a hearing with committee members.
The committee also wants to invite European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to a hearing on the lack of transparency regarding vaccine contracts. That discussion has been going on for some time, with calls for the release of the much-discussed text-message traffic between von der Leyen and Pfizer.
Earlier, the European Ombudsman and the European Court of Auditors strongly criticised the lack of transparency surrounding the European Union’s largest vaccine contract.
“I am pleased that the coordinators of the political groups have agreed to my proposal to start both procedures,” Kathleen Van Brempt reacted. “During the pandemic, the European Union spent a lot of public funds on vaccine production and procurement."
"Parliament has a right to obtain full transparency about the modalities of this expenditure and the preliminary negotiations that preceded it,” she added.
Transparency is “essential to ensure the trust of our citizens in the European institutions and crucial to strengthen the resilience of the European Union, especially in times of crisis,” Van Brempt stressed.
