>>16329834EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the procurement of Covid 19 vaccines a top priority at the beginning of the corona pandemic. Because the contracts with the vaccine manufacturers were only partially made public and came about in a questionable way, she was repeatedly criticized for her actions. In particular, the unreasonably expensive and non-transparent deal concluded by BioNTech/Pfizer in spring 2021 for up to 1.8 billion vaccine doses raised questions among many MEPs.
It cost taxpayers 35 billion euros. The President of the Commission had previously introduced him – via SMS, as reported by the New York Times. However, the EU Commission then refused any insight into the text messages in question to the parliamentarians. The authority did not provide the requested information on the transaction to the European Court of Auditors either. More and more MEPs have therefore recently called for the public prosecutor to intervene. Now it actually becomes active.
"The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) confirms that it is investigating the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines in the European Union," the agency said on Friday. This confirmation is "due to the extremely high level of public interest". However, further details would not be announced at this time. What exactly the prosecutor's office is investigating for remains unclear. However, one thing is certain: It was von der Leyen's approach to the Pfizer orders that triggered the displeasure in the EU Parliament and the call for the public prosecutor in the first place.
