Pfizer, $35 billion, and missing messages: von der Leyen survives a vote of no confidence in the European Parliament
10 July 14:15
Ursula von der Leyen has retained her post as President of the European Commission despite the scandal surrounding the billions of euros contract with Pfizer signed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The European Parliament today did not support a vote of no confidence in the official, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports citing Bloomberg.
The European Parliament voted against this initiative: 360 deputies voted against the resolution, 175 voted in favor, and 18 abstained. A two-thirds majority was required to pass the no-confidence resolution, i.e. 480 votes.
The vote came at a critical time for the EU, which is trying to counter the deepening trade war with the United States and is preparing for difficult negotiations on its next seven-year budget. Von der Leyen was elected almost a year ago to lead the EU’s executive branch for a second five-year term.
During a debate on the vote earlier this week in parliament, Von der Leyen defended her actions in the case, warning of
“an alarming threat from extremist parties that want to polarize our societies with disinformation.”
After her successful vote, the president wrote a post on X in which she drew attention to “external threats” to European unity.
“At a time of global instability and unpredictability, the EU needs strength, vision and the ability to act. We need each of us to solve our common problems. Together. As external forces seek to destabilize and divide us, it is our duty to respond in line with our values. Thank you, and long live Europe!”
– von der Leyen wrote.
A vote of no confidence against the head of the European Commission is a relatively rare occurrence. However, Von der Leyen’s predecessor, Jean-Claude Juncker, survived a no-confidence motion in 2014 over reports of potentially illegal corporate tax breaks during his tenure as prime minister of Luxembourg.
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What is von der Leyen accused of?
The reason for the vote of no confidence was the lack of transparency in the negotiations between Ursula von der Leyen and the head of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, Albert Bourla, during the COVID-19 pandemic. This primarily concerns personal correspondence, in which, according to media reports, the terms of a large-scale vaccine contract were discussed.
In 2021, the European Commission signed an agreement with Pfizer to purchase 1.8 billion doses of the vaccine worth more than €35 billion. As The New York Times found out, von der Leyen had personal correspondence with Burla via SMS and messengers, despite the fact that such negotiations should have taken place with the participation of specialized negotiating groups and been formally documented.
When journalists and MEPs requested access to this correspondence, the European Commission stated that the messages were “not preserved”. This caused a wave of criticism, and the European Ombudsman stated that there were “signs of an administrative violation”. In May 2025, the EU Court of Justice ruled that von der Leyen’s text messages should be part of the public domain, and that it was illegal to classify such information.
The financial component of the contract also raised additional questions. It was reported that the price per dose had been increased from €15.50 to €19.50, and that volumes had been purchased that were largely unused. This led to accusations of inefficient use of EU funds and possible lobbying by the pharmaceutical industry.
These circumstances became the basis for the motion of no confidence, which was introduced by MEPs of the right and left, accusing the President of the European Commission of abuse of power, conflict of interest and violation of transparency.
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