POLITICO reports that the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into the EU’s coronavirus vaccine purchases. The EPPO’s brief announcement said that “this exceptional confirmation comes after the extremely high public interest.”
POLITICO reports that back in April 2021, the New York Times first reported on text messages exchanged between von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla in the run-up to the EU’s biggest vaccine procurement contract for up to 1.8 billion doses of BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine.
It adds that last month, the European Court of Auditors published a report where it said the Commission refused to disclose any details of von der Leyen’s personal role in the talks concerning the Pfizer contract.
In response to the announcement, Belgian Socialist MEP Kathleen van Brempt said that “several aspects” of the Pfizer contract need to be looked into, including “the text messages between the Commission President and the fact that there is no paper trail of the preliminary negotiations in first instance.”
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