European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has described the ongoing bribery scandal plaguing the EU as being “infinitely painful”.
The revelation of widespread bribery and corruption within the halls of the European Union has been “really upsetting” and “infinitely painful”, the bloc’s Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, has reportedly said during an interview on Sunday.
Despite the revelations that officials linked to the union’s parliament were seemingly being paid to push policies by foreign nations, the chief Eurocrat maintained that trust in the institution was high, and that the bloc continued to be successful in handling the COVID pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Speaking to German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk, von der Leyen said that the corruption being investigated by authorities in Belgium flew in the face of many who work in the European Parliament, whom she praised.
“The whole thing is really upsetting and very, very painful,” she told the outlet. ” My experience over the three years that I have been here, I have expressed and I work extremely well with the European Parliament.”
“MEPs are endlessly hard-working, passionate about Europe, with integrity,” she continued. “And then it is infinitely painful when there are some who obviously let themselves be corrupted with criminal energy.”
Nevertheless, despite the issues, the Commission President insisted that the bloc would keep fighting for the trust of the European public, something she claims was quite high before the scandal broke.
“[F] or us, as Europeans, it is important to keep winning the trust of the people – in my experience – by making and delivering good policies,” she remarked, insisting that the bloc’s handling of the Ukraine and Coronvirus crises had a positive effect on public confidence.
Ex-Socialist MEP Admits Guilt in Bribery Scandal, Promises to Share ‘Revealing’ Details of EU Corruptionhttps://t.co/UCjUnTDUg6
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) January 19, 2023
However, despite von der Leyen’s claims to the contrary, the bribery scandal — nicknamed Qatargate in the European press — appears likely to rock public confidence in an institution that has already seen quite a lot of bad PR over the last twelve months.
For instance, the ongoing corruption probe comes hot on the tail of a transparency scandal centring around the President herself, with her European Commission failing to release text messages sent between von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla.
Despite an internal Ombudsman ruling that the body has an obligation to release the text messages — which some allege constitute a significant part of the COVID vaccine procurement negotiations for the EU — the Commission has so far failed to provide them to the public, with it being claimed that von der Leyen cannot find the messages in question.
With an election for the European Parliament due to take place in 2024, such issues could end up having an impact on overall representation within the bloc, with even von der Leyen playing coy about whether she will seek a second term after the various scandals she has faced.
Asked whether she will seek a second term, the Commission President told Deutschlandfunk that she had not “decided yet”, arguing that she still has two years ahead of her in the position.
MEPs from across the EU have called upon the European Commission President, Germany's Ursula von der Leyen, to resign over accusations she hid text conversations between her and the head of vaccine manufacturer Pfizer https://t.co/lh0OxkJTo6
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 18, 2022
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