Belgian court rules on jurisdiction

In April 2021, the New York Times brought to light the so-called “Pfizergate” affair. She revealed that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen negotiated a deal with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla for 1.8 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses during the pandemic. The explosive thing was that some of this took place in the form of text messages that have not been made public to this day.

Following these revelations, Belgian lobbyist Frédéric Baldan filed a lawsuit against von der Leyen in a court in Liège in April 2023. He accused them of “usurpation of positions and titles,” “destruction of public documents,” and “illicit enrichment and corruption.”

A dozen other organizations, individuals, and even states such as Hungary and Poland (under the former PiS-led government) have joined his lawsuit.

The case, which is currently under investigation, has been taken over by the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO). She will present her indictment at the hearing and is expected to give reasons why she should be entrusted with the investigation at the Court of First Instance in Liège on 17 May.

The EPPO is responsible for cases that harm the EU budget, are transnational or may affect the reputation of the EU institutions and the trust of citizens.

In this case, however, the Belgian investigating judge did not agree to the EPPO taking over the case. He questioned whether the case could remain in Belgian hands, two sources familiar with the matter told Euractiv.

EU rules also state that in the event of a jurisdictional dispute with a member state, "the competent national authorities should decide on the allocation of jurisdiction."

In other words, the Belgian court must assess whether the EPPO’s request to take over the case is lawful and whether the investigation launched by the Belgian investigating judge should be stopped or continued.

The Commission has already been at the centre of other legal disputes related to the Pfizergate case.

Besides the fact that the EU Ombudsman has concluded that Pfizergate was a “maladministration” and that the New York Times has filed a complaint with the Court of Justice of the EU, it will be interesting to see how this Belgian case ends and whether the allegations could harm von der Leyen’s efforts to win a second term.