Tag: Ursula von der Leyen

Ursula: MEP Garraud complaint to OLAF

Blog, EU

Strasbourg 14.03.2024 Complaints against the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen accumulate. This time the Member of the European Parliament joint the voices of discontent, pointing to her neglect of rules the EU institution is so eager to impose on others. Ursula von der Leyen start of the competition for the second mandate was marked with a “faux pas” or a misstep, evident to many. The EU top executive started to use the resources and possibilities at hand of her powerful position to engage in self-promotion for the second mandate.

Complain Garraud Ursula

However the reality showed the opposite, and on March 7 a complaint from a French Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Jean-Paul Garraud was filed to European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly on non-compliance with the “article 10 of the Code of Conduct for Commissioners by the President of the Commission European, Mrs. Ursula von der Leyen”. As a MEP, but also as a professional jurist, Garraud expressed his “deep concern regarding respect for the principles of integrity and neutrality” which had to guide the action of all European commissioners, in accordance with Article 10 of the Code of Conduct of
commissioners, but clearly in case of Ursula von der Leyen was ignored. (The original of the letter above).

Apparently Ursula von der Leyen, incumbent President of the Commission European and candidate for a new mandate put forward by the European People’s party, recently published a glorious assessment of her mandate on the site of the European Commission.
This self-gratification raises serious questions about misusing of human and material resources of the European Commission for “purposes linked to its electoral campaign”, which would be in direct violation of Article 10 of the Code of Conduct for Commissioners. “This article clearly states the prohibition of using Commission resources for campaign activities”, Garraud underlines. Wishing to be re-elected at the head of the European Commission the president-candidate used the site of the European institutions to promote a 56-page document “devoted to her own glory” as MEP ironically remarked.

Garraud Tweet

“The trust of European citizens is essential for the proper functioning and legitimacy of institutions
European. It is therefore essential to ensure that all EU representatives and commissioners act in accordance full compliance with established ethical and conduct rules, thus guaranteeing equal treatment
between all candidates and preserving the integrity of our institutions” the MEP continues.
The text of the complaint to OLAF (depicted) resumes in a request of the investigation of the matter to ensure that Ursula von der Leyen campaign for re-election is conducted within the frame of existing rules in full respect of the Code of Conduct.

Jean-Paul Garraud is a French politician who has raised to prominence in his status as an accomplished jurist. After a long and illustrious professional career within the French justice system, this native of Toulouse turned to political life. He earned his stripes in the UMP as a French deputy where he was distinguished for his work in the National Assembly as rapporteur of several significant bills.

Nowadays Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is being sued in the Belgian courts over controversial private text messages exchanged with Albert Bourla, CEO of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. The President of the Commission stands accused of having acted subjectively, through private wheeling and dealing, without a mandate from the EU Member States. The Commission attempted to defend the boss while saying that the messages were deleted because they were deemed to be of a ‘short-lived and ephemeral nature’ and devoid of ‘important information relating to policies, activities and decisions of the Commission’. This attitude has disappointed many, demonstrating an absence of any inclination for co-operation.

In spite of the evident public concern the Commission explanations expose the serious lack of transparency surrounding these private negotiations, which led to a purchase of Pfizer products for an
amount of €35bn. The negotiations conducted via texts attracted also keen attention of the New York Times newspaper, which resulted in a lawsuit.

The request from the New York Times, the first media outlet to reveal the SMS affair in April 2021, was filed on January 25, 2023 and has been visible since February 13 on the public register of the Court of Justice of the European Communities . (Pictured with Albert Bourla)

Screenshot (89)

One more similar  lawsuit was filed by a Belgian activist who started legal action against Ursula von der Leyen for causing financial damage to the Belgian state by negotiating the joint procurement of COVID-19 vaccines by text messages, local media reported.

Frederic Baldan, a lobbyist officially accredited to EU institutions, sued von der Leyen for causing financial damage to the Belgian state when she secured a €35 billion ($38.4 billion) deal with pharma company Pfizer to buy 1.8 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines for EU countries, Belgian weekly Le Vif reported.

EU-Russia: X package of “arsenic”

Blog, Conflict, EU

Brussels 20.02.2023 “We are approaching one year since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine” said the EU top diplomat Josep Borrell, while addressing the Members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg (pictured).

“Until today, Putin is escalating this illegal aggression, weaponising winter, food and hunger. Russia continues to show its inhuman face with brutal missile terror against civilian targets.

“The European Union has so far reacted with unprecedented support to Ukraine and nine sanctions packages. They are taking a heavy toll on the Russian economy and on the Kremlin’s ability to finance its aggression.

“Today, as the President of the [European] Commission [Ursula von der Leyen] has announced, we are putting forward a 10th package of sanctions against those who are instrumental in the continuation of this brutal war. Taking more measures, tackling the banking sector, access to dual-use technology and targeting, also, advanced technologies.

“Additionally, I am submitting to the Council a list of proposals to sanction almost 100 additional individuals and entities for their role in undermining sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

“This includes those responsible for military activities, for political decisions, propaganda, and disinformation.

“We are targeting those involved in inhumane kidnappings, deportations and forced adoption of Ukrainian children to Russia and also those enabling the looting of Ukrainian resources.

“We will again hit hard at the Russian military and defence sector, at the organisations related to them, [and] those responsible for the development of drones that are targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.

“And these [sanctions] are not [confined] to Russia. Today’s proposal includes a full exports-ban of several Iranian entities involved in the manufacture and provision of unmanned aerial vehicles. Yesterday, at the NATO [Ministerial] meeting, we got clear evidence that this is happening.

“So, we are proposing to sanction more key decision-makers, senior government officials and parliamentarians.

“I am proposing to the Member States to extend our sanctions to the proxy authorities and the so-called judges in the four illegally annexed Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia –who are providing fake legitimacy to the Russian rulers and their illegal decisions.

“We are imposing restrictive measures on media organisations, on persons and organisations who are polluting the public space with disinformation and malicious narratives, adding to the military warfare also through information warfare.

“We will continue to increase pressure on Russia – and we will do it for as long as needed, until Ukraine is liberated from the brutal Russian aggression”.

A new portion of “arsenic” for Russians include the following measures:

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the EU top diplomat Josep Borrell have already announced details of the EU’s proposed 10th package of Russia sanctions. The X-th package of sanctions will include:

Export bans on critical technology and industrial goods, such as electronics, specialised vehicles, machine parts, spare parts for trucks and jet engines, as well as goods used in the construction sector, such as antennas or cranes.
Further restrictions on the export of dual use goods and advanced technology goods, including 47 new electronic components that can be used in Russian weapons systems, including drones, missiles and helicopters.
Export restrictions on specific rare earth materials and thermal cameras.

The addition of VII Iranian entities to the EU’s Russia dual use sanctions. This responds to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards alleged provision of Shahed drones to attack civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
The designation of nearly 100 people and entities, including:

– those involved in kidnappings, deportations and forced adoption of Ukrainian children to Russia;
– those enabling the looting of Ukrainian resources;
– organisations involved in the Russian military and defence sector, including those responsible for the development of drones that are targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure;
– key decision-makers, senior government officials and parliamentarians;
– proxy authorities and judges in non-government-controlled Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia; and
– media organisations, people and entities responsible for disinformation.

Measures to prevent circumvention, including the creation of an “overview” of all frozen assets of the Russian central bank held in the EU alongside Member States. President von der Leyen said that this is crucial in view of the possible use of public Russian assets to fund reconstruction in Ukraine.

President von der Leyen also said that the Commission is organising a Sanctions Coordinators Forum. Subsequently she called on Member States to adopt this package swiftly with the aim of having significant sanctions in place by 24 February 2023, the 1-year anniversary of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Ukraine: Orban warns EU of consequences

Blog, Europe

Brussels 07.12.2022 The Hungarian leader Viktor Orban told “Good morning, Hungary!” that EU sanctions on Russian energy are bound to fail, and that “not only our children, but also our grandchildren will suffer the consequences” of a mass borrowing scheme proposed by the EU, adding that potentially insolvent states will require support as well.

Orban reiterated Hungary’s opposition, and suggested that agreements to support Ukraine should be at the national level via bilateral agreements between individual countries, ReMix reports.

He highlighted that Ukraine has now found itself in a situation whereby it is incapable of functioning as an independent nation because of the ongoing conflict, and while it needs help from its neighbors and allies in the short-term, it is not for Brussels to speak on behalf of all member states.

What’s more, Orban believes that any further sanctions on Russian gas or nuclear energy would have “tragic consequences,” and argued that Hungary should be exempt from such a decision.

“We are facing a difficult winter, Ukraine is in an increasingly difficult situation, Russia is suffering difficulties, but its revenues from energy carriers are at their peak, so the policy of sanctions has not achieved its goal,” he said, explaining that while Hungary won’t be subject to an upcoming ban on European imports of Russian oil, it will still be affected by the “price-inflating effect of the sanctions.”

“We have always achieved our own national goals in the negotiations on sanctions, so we are participating in the discussion of the ninth package with good hopes,” Orban concluded, while noting that the “pressure is constant,” and that Hungary must “constantly fight to protect our interests.”

Brussels bailing out Ukraine will ruin Europe for generations, Hungary’s Orban warns.

EU: Big Tech shields Ursula

Blog, EU, Europe, International

Brussels 25.10.2022 Anna van Densky OPINION On Sunday night, October 23 at 10:50 PM, I received an email from the YouTube team, informing me, that my video was removed and my channel was suspended for one week. The explanation of this hostile measure against the Freedom of speech was announced in a standard, non personalized text:

“Our team has reviewed your content, and, unfortunately, we think it violates our medical-misinformation policy. We’ve removed the following content from YouTube: “EU: demand of Ursula resignation”.
I immediately launched an appeal explaining the political and non-medical nature of my reporting from the European Parliament Strasbourg Plenary, but to no avail.

Well… But seriously, what the loud political demands of a group of the Members of the European Parliament for Ursula von der Leyen resignation have to do with the “medical-misinformation”? Ursula von der Leyen holds a position of the European Commission president, or in the other words the Prime-minister of the “United States of Europe”, and the MEPs demands of the resignation are relevant to the democratic practices, in the context of corruption allegations.

In mid-October the European Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation into the EU’s coronavirus vaccines purchases, an announcement attracting attention to the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s questionable actions in concluding €71 bn contracts in total to November 2021.

My reporting censored by YouTube was correct because MEPs articulated the demands publicly a few times during the European Parliament second October Plenary in Strasbourg. Why the YouTube team is suppressing the vital for the EU citizens information, revealing corruption in the institutional highest ranks, and deleting the content about the legitimate demands of people’s representative for transparency enshrined to the EU Treaty?

Who is behind this YouTube team, who claims to be the guardians of the World Health Organization policies? On what grounds a Digital platform manifests itself as a censor, declaring that “YouTube doesn’t allow content that spreads medical misinformation that contradicts local health authorities’ (LHA) or the World Health Organization’s (WHO) medical information about COVID-19”. And what does the “medical misinformation” mean, while WHO, and other influential players in the field as the Chief Medical Advisor to the President of the U.S. spasmodically, but brazenly adapted their own slippery tactics in promotion of the Big Pharma products? Remember?

According to the statistic research the YouTube was among the major beneficiaries from the lockdown policies. According to The Insider YouTube is a powerhouse for Google, with revenue up 46% to almost $7 billion in the last quarter of 2020, doubling its profits due to lockdowns.

Just a few words about the YouTube, which is a video sharing platform where users around the world stream 694,000 hours of content every minute.
It is owned by Google, and is the second most visited website, after Google Search. YouTube has more than 2.5 billion monthly users who collectively watch more than one billion hours of videos each day. However policies of this Big Tech giant are becoming increasingly obscurant, influencing without any democratic mandate the political, and public life, moreover, manipulating and misguiding societies on epic scale.

However the concerns over the active “misinformation” censorship in favour of promotion of Big Pharma scheme of eternal use of their products reached the U.S. Senate. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Ranking Member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a letter to YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki demanding documents and communications explaining each instance of YouTube’s censorship of him and requesting information on the development of YouTube’s COVID-19 misinformation policies.

“YouTube has displayed a troubling track record of censoring a sitting United States Senator, the proceedings of the United States Senate, journalists that interview me, and the display of data that is entirely generated from U.S. government health agencies,” the senator said.

Senator Johnson pressed Big Tech executives on censorship,  the silencing of conservative voices internal political bias at social media companies and their role in removing “COVID-19 disinformation.” The executives would not answer his questions.

Meanwhile on the other side of the Atlantic Ursula von der Leyen does not shy away from forceful imposition of decisions in a totalitarian power style, trampling The Nuremburg Code, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Declaration of Helsinki, and the Siracusa Principles.

Moreover led by Ursula von der Leyen the European Commission is eager to bring the “Health dictatorship” to another level. The EU is also determined to play a leading role in the negotiations for a new international legally binding agreement on “pandemic prevention, preparedness and response” and targeted amendments to strengthen the 2005 International Health Regulations.

This institution, which has become deeply authoritarian, asks Member States to relaunch their vaccine strategies and to fight against misinformation about the vaccine, which means nothing other than the return of the vaccination pass, and “health dictatorship”.

However, in spite of the heavy “editing” and mass-scale censorship the demands of transparency around the dealing of Ursula von der Leyen and the Big Pharma companies, namely Pfizer are mounting.

Olivier Frot, Doctor of Public Law, from Bordeaux University, France, managed to obtain the framework agreement from the European Commission for the purchase of “anti-Covid vaccines” from the company Pfizer BioNtech.

“We are in the presence of a very original and unusual contractual form in terms of public procurement, an ‘advance purchase agreement’, a form unknown to the writer before this study and not provided for in the texts governing public contracts awarded by the European Commission” commented Oliver Frot.
“This is a type of leonine contract in which the contracting party is exempt from economic risk (firm price over a short period, fixed contractual quantities, significant financial advance), exempt from legal risk (responsibility transferred to the participating Member State” the researcher continued.
“The information making it possible to determine the legality of the procedures for awarding and drafting these contracts is unfortunately not available. Given the totally unbalanced nature of these contracts, one can legitimately ask questions about their award conditions and the absence of corruption and/or conflicts of interest” he added.

Hungary receives support

Blog, EU, Europe, Human rights

Brussels 28.06.2021 Heading against the all-out campaign of the liberal mainstream against Hungary’s recently adopted child protection law, several European politicians rushed to its defense, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó wrote on his Facebook page. (Image belovw: Prime Minister Viktor Orban with his grandchildren).

Hungary’s new law, which enacted a variety of anti-abuse and anti-pedophile laws, also banned LGBT content or content that promotes children changing their gender from being shown to children under 18. The law has been criticised by the president of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

“The liberal mainstream has launched an unscrupulous fake news campaign against Hungary because we have made it clear that parents have the exclusive right to educate their children about their sexual orientation. But no matter what they say about us, we won’t let go of it! Get your hands off our children!” Szijjártó wrote, causing further polemics.

However Szijjártó has underlined the fact that there were those who “stood by us in spite of the terror of opinion from those who commit stigmatising, lying attacks. Thank you for standing by our country, you can count on us too!”

Among those who support Hungary were politicians in Poland, Italy, Estonia, and Slovakia.

“Children and families must be protected from being affected by any indoctrination activity. (…) There are clear rules that parents have the right to raise their child. I want to underline this very strongly, because I have a very deep conviction that it is a good attitude for parents to be able to decide who and on what principles can hold any kind of teaching-educational activities,” said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

According to Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, the Hungarian law must be “satisfactorily explained”.
“I can’t judge, we agreed that we should discuss it in a V4 framework to make sure the interpretations are correct,” Babis has underlined.

“We are a little concerned about what is happening around Hungary. In Hungary, a law has been passed in the parliament to combat pedophilia, and there are also provisions dealing with homosexual education. (…) Is this a reason to exclude someone from the EU?” said former Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, adding that “the whole EU and the whole European Commission stood on its head”.

Matteo Salvini, the leader of the League party also came to the defense of the Hungarian law.

“Each state is free to decide how to organise its own schools, universities and judiciary. I don’t understand the interventions,” he said.

Dutch Fauna party leads largest Europarl Intergroup

Blog, Europe, Politics

In the framework of the September Strasbourg Plenary the Animal welfare Intergroup of the European Parliament has elected Anja Hazecamp, Dutch MEP as president of the biggest cross party congregation.

Anja Hazekamp (51) is a prominent Dutch politician, a member of the Party for Animals (PvdD), and a member of the group of the European United Left – Nordic Green Left (@GUENGL).

The PvdD is the first political party across the  world to gain parliamentary seats, including three seats for Senate, with an agenda focused primarily on animal rights, and animal welfare. At her election Hazekamp said she expects from Ursula von der Leyen ‘real change” in animal welfare issues.

Hazekamp was elected unanimously as the only candidate put forward by the MEPs. The former president of the group Sirpa Petikainen has been elected as an Honorary president.

The Intergroup is providing a forum for debate, and initiating actions for animal welfare-related issues in the European Parliament.  An entire spectrum of activities as issuing  reports, resolutions or amendments, formally asking parliamentary questions and sending letters to authorities, organising public awareness events, – all of them resulted in graduate improvements in the animal welfare situation in the EU.

 Next meeting of the Intergroup will take place in Strasbourg during October Plenary to discuss problems of exotic pet trade in the EU (Thursday 24 October, 10:00 – 11:00).