Von der Leyen’s secret texts with Pfizer

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Commission struck a multi-billion-euro deal with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer for vaccine doses. In preparations to the deal, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen texted with the company’s CEO, Albert Bourla. But when journalist Alexander Fanta requested access to those messages, the Commission refused – and they have still never seen the light of day. In this episode, we are joined by journalist Lise Witteman to unpack Pfizergate: the scandal that has dogged von der Leyen’s presidency. Related stories ➪ https://www.ftm.eu/articles/new-york-times-lawsuit-european-commission https://www.ftm.eu/articles/ursula-von-der-leyen-text-messages https://www.ftm.eu/articles/who-is-suing-von-der-leyen https://www.ftm.eu/articles/pfizergate-hearing-eu-general-court https://www.ftm.eu/articles/eu-signal-group-confirmed-transparency-rules https://www.ftm.eu/articles/interview-eu-court-sms-von-der-leyen https://www.ftm.eu/articles/pfizergate-ruling-general-court-eu https://www.ftm.eu/articles/pfizergate-text-messages-deleted-after-access-request Follow the podcast https://www.ftm.eu/podcast/follow-the-money-the-podcast Follow FTM on social media: Instagram ➪ https://www.instagram.com/followthemoney_eu/ BlueSky ➪ https://bsky.app/profile/ftm.eu LinkedIn ➪ https://www.linkedin.com/company/follow-the-money-eu/ Become a member and support independent investigative journalism! https://www.ftm.eu/subscribe