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The European Commission “must immediately disclose,” in compliance with the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the communication between the President of the Brussels-based body, Ursula von der Leyen, and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla on the ordering of COVID-19 vaccines, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Luxembourg on Wednesday.
Speaking at a press conference following the Council of Europe foreign ministers’ meeting, Péter Szijjártó said that Ursula von der Leyen is a “Hungarophobic politician who makes decisions that are seriously anti-Hungarian.” He said that this is the reason why the European Commission is constantly harassing Hungary, as if under duress, trying to carry out various procedures against Hungary.
The New York Times and its journalist asked for access to the text messages reportedly exchanged between von der Leyen and Bourla between January 1, 2021 and May 22, 2022, but the Commission refused to do so. The daily newspaper’s journalist then took the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union, which has now ruled that the Commission “has not given a plausible explanation to justify the non-possession of the requested documents.”
The Court reasoned that after The New York Times and the journalist presented relevant evidence, they had “succeeded in rebutting the presumption of non-existence and of non-possession of the requested documents.” The Court found that the Commission did not provide a plausible explanation as to why it did not give access to the requested documents, and why it considered that the text messages did not contain important information, the retention of which must be ensured.
“This is the Ursula von der Leyen, who regularly expresses scathing opinions about the state of Hungarian democracy, transparency, and compliance with the law. This is the Ursula von der Leyen who, when the lives of millions of people in Europe were at stake, turned out to have ordered Pfizer vaccines by text message in a very suspicious, economically and in every other way questionable way,” Szijjártó said. “And this is the Ursula von der Leyen, who is hiding, with the help of the European Commission and the Brussels bureaucracy, the communication that took place between her and the Pfizer boss about the ordering of vaccines from Covid to protect European people,” he continued.
.@vonderleyen lectures us on transparency while hiding her shady Pfizer deals. We call on the @EU_Commission to respect the ECJ ruling and publish the messages on the vaccine purchase. Why were vaccines delayed? Why did Europe overpay? Enough with the excuses. We want answers.
— Péter Szijjártó (@FM_Szijjarto) May 14, 2025
I think that from now on, President von der Leyen is the last person from whom we are willing to accept or consider any criticism about Hungary’s internal affairs,”
he added.
Mr. Szijjártó strongly urged Brussels to respect the ruling of the Court and to immediately disclose the communication between the Commission President and the head of Pfizer on the ordering of the vaccines.
He asked: “What were the financial issues communicated about? Why did the Commission pay what it paid and why were vaccines delayed in Europe? Why are health care systems in many countries on the brink of collapse? How is it that Europe was one of the last to receive vaccines?”
We strongly demand that this communication between the President of the European Commission and the head of Pfizer be made public without delay,”
he stressed.
Christian Democrat MEP György Hölvényi also reacted to the matter, stressing that “Europeans deserve more than this.” “The decision could pave the way for a more transparent European Union, closer to its citizens. Of course, we are not expecting a miracle, but we have to start somewhere,” added the Patriots for Europe politician.
András László, Fidesz MEP, wrote in a post on X: “Corruption scandals in the highest levels of the EU keep piling up. Europeans want change in Brussels.”
“We deserve better leadership,” he declared, listing the scandals of recent years:
Qatargate, Pfizergate, Hololei, Reynders and money laundering, Green Deal and Timmermans, fake NGOs… The interests of Europeans are being sold out. Enough is enough!”
The corruption scandals in the highest levels in the EU keep piling up.
Europeans want change in Brussels.
We deserve better leadership!Qatargate, Pfizergate, Hololei, Reynders & money laundering, Green Deal & Timmermans, fake NGOs…
The interests of Europeans are being sold… https://t.co/dB1lYLQ2a3— András LÁSZLÓ MEP (@laszloan) May 14, 2025
Featured image: MTI/Purger Tamás