The European Parliament calls von der Leyen over the mammoth contract with Pfizer. Burla is persona non grata.
The European Parliament’s special committee on the Covid-19 pandemic has decided to summon Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to a hearing regarding contracts for coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer.
In particular, the European Parliament committee calls on von der Leyen to explain her role in negotiating the third and largest contract with Pfizer, as well as the text messages (SMS) she exchanged with the company’s CEO, Albert Burla .
According to the rules of the European Parliament the invitation will be sent to the President of the Parliament Roberta Metzola, who will decide whether to ask the president of the European Commission to attend the hearing.
“The European Union has spent a lot of public money on the production and purchase of vaccines during the pandemic,” Belgian MEP Kathleen Van Brempt told Politico. “Parliament has the right to ensure full transparency about the details of these costs and the preliminary negotiations leading up to them.”
The summons, even if received, has no legal effect. Like Burla, von der Leyen may refuse to appear, Politico commented. But with calls for greater transparency growing louder as the Qatargate corruption scandal engulfs Brussels, he may not be able to refuse.
“Transparency is essential to ensure our citizens’ trust in the European institutions,” Van Brempt explained.
Block in Burla And Pfizer
The CEO of Pfizer has also been targeted by the European Parliament, after his double refusal to testify in the European Parliament. Thus, the special committee requests the imposition of sanctions against the pharmaceutical company by suspending its access to the European Parliament.
The committee requests that Albert Burla’s access to the European Parliament be suspended. The request will be considered by the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament (based on Article 123 of the EC Rules of Procedure), which will determine the details of a possible restriction of Pfizer’s access to the EC (e.g. in terms of time frame and persons ).
The General Secretariat may, with the authorization of the Deans, deny the right of access to the European Parliament to a registered person who “refused to comply with an official invitation to attend a hearing or committee meeting or who does not cooperate with an inquiry committee without providing sufficient justification”.
This article is originally published on ieidiseis.gr
