Pfizergate: Belgian court to hold hearing amid competence row with EU prosecutor

A Belgian court will hold a hearing on 17 May where it will be decided whether Belgian or EU prosecutors are competent to continue the ‘Pfizergate’ probe involving European Commission boss Ursula von der Leyen, according to a document seen by Euractiv.

In April 2021, the New York Times broke the so-called “Pfizergate” story, revealing that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had negotiated a contract for 1.8 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses during the pandemic with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla in mobile phone texts that remain undisclosed to this day.

Following these revelations, Belgian lobbyist specialising in EU-China trade relations Frédéric Baldan filed a suit against von der Leyen before a Liège court in April 2023, accusing her of “usurpation of functions and titles”, “destruction of public documents” and “unlawful enrichment and corruption”.

A dozen other organisations, individuals, and even countries like Hungary and Poland (under the previous PiS-led government), have joined his complaint.

The case, which is currently under investigation, had been taken over by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), which will present its indictment during the hearing and likely argue why it should be in charge of the investigation before the Court of First Instance in Liège on 17 May.

The EPPO is responsible for cases involving damage to the EU budget and cases of a transnational nature, as well as cases likely to affect the reputation of the EU institutions and the confidence of citizens.

In this case, however, the Belgian investigating judge does not agree with the EPPO taking over the case and is questioning whether the case can remain in Belgian hands, two sources close to the case told Euractiv.

EU rules also state that in the event of a jurisdictional dispute with a member state, “the competent national authorities should decide on the allocation of jurisdiction”.

In other words, the Belgian court will have to assess whether the EPPO’s request to take over the case is lawful and whether the ongoing investigation initiated by the Belgian investigating judge should be closed or continued.

The Commission has been at the centre of other Pfizergate-related litigation.

Aside from the EU Ombudsman concluding that Pfizergate was a case of “maladministration” and the New York Times bringing a case before the EU Court of Justice, it will be interesting to see how this Belgian case plays out and whether the accusations could harm von der Leyen’s bid to secure a second mandate.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

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