On the mat from the European Court’s decision catalystwhich casts a shadow over his re-election process, Ursula von der Leyen He will present his political priorities to the European Parliament in Strasbourg and outline his vision and plans as President of the Commission, followed by a discussion with MEPs.
The debate is scheduled to last until approximately 12:00 (Greek time), according to a relevant update from the European Parliament. The vote – which will be held by secret ballot – is scheduled for 14:00 (also Greek time).
To be elected, von der Leyen will need the support of an absolute majority in Parliament, that is, 361 votes.
If he does not obtain the necessary majority, Parliament President Roberta Metzola will invite the European Council to propose another candidate within one month, to be elected using the same procedure.
It should be recalled that Ursula von der Leyen has been President of the Commission since 2019 and was the EPP’s main candidate in the European elections on 6 and 9 June.
The Court’s decision
The European Commission failed to grant “sufficiently broad access” to contracts for Covid-19 vaccines, an EU court ruled on Wednesday.
The European General Court ruled that the Commission’s decision to withhold parts of the agreements contained “irregularities”. It concluded that the Commission had not demonstrated that wider access to the contracts would harm the commercial interests of pharmaceutical companies.
The European Parliament has been asking for access for about a year and a half in the Commission’s third contract with the pharmaceutical industry Pfizer. It is recalled that the New York Times revealed in its report that Ms von der Leyen had agreed with Mr Burla via WhatsApp messages on the EU’s new contract with Pfizer. When asked to produce the messages, the Commission replied that they were “lost”.
The Eurogroup Left (The Left) called for the procedure to be postponed following the ruling: “Left MEPs are calling for the postponement of Ms von der Leyen’s re-election as Commission president, after the court ruled that the withholding of information was unlawful. Parliament’s legal services should assess whether the vote should be postponed,” Left notes, calling her “unfit for office”.