EU's von der Leyen 'has to be held accountable' for vaccine texts: Senior MEP Aubry

Talking Europe

We speak with the Co-Chair of The Left Group in the European Parliament, French MEP Manon Aubry. A noted advocate for transparency in the EU institutions, she was also a negotiator of the "Duty of Care Directive", which now faces calls for its abolition. Aubry says the directive is absolutely crucial for holding multinational corporations to account when it comes to labour and environmental abuses. She sees the EU Commission's "simplification" agenda as Trump-style deregulation.

Aubry reacts to the recent EU General Court ruling over undisclosed vaccine deal text messages between EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the CEO of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer during the Covid-19 pandemic. The court's decision was hailed as a victory for transparency, but von der Leyen has not made the text messages public.

"Well, it's a scandal, let's be honest," Aubry says. "And let's face it, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has been negotiating the contract with Pfizer for the vaccines. The price of the vaccines has been increasing out of nowhere, probably from direct negotiations. And those SMS were not just like me sending you a nice and friendly SMS; 'Do you want to have a drink'? No, it was about negotiation of public money. So she has to be held accountable for that. I think, to be honest, she should be resigning."

Aubry puts the "Pfizergate" controversy in the context of broader concerns about a lack of transparency in the EU institutions.

"How many scandals have we had over the last few years? You might remember 'Qatargate', and the recent 'Huaweigate', Aubry says. "The core of the issue is opacity. Everything that is dealt, negotiated, agreed upon in the European institutions is done within closed doors, with no possibility for journalists, for NGOs, for citizens to hold the politicians accountable. And that's a problem. We need the independent ethics body that we've been advocating [for], but we also need to take of money out [of the European Parliament]. As an MEP, you should not take a single cent outside of the money that you earn as an MEP."

Aubry draws a parallel between attempts to simplify corporate due diligence and sustainability directives and French President Emmanuel Macron's call to remove "Duty of Care" requirements on multinationals.

"This is a trend that is following Trump, quite simply. It's deregulation," Aubry states. "The 'Duty of Care' text is one that I negotiated over the last five years. It's been adopted only a year ago. So democratically speaking, killing a directive that has been adopted only a year ago, that companies were starting to get ready to implement, is a bit of a problem. But most importantly, why is that 'Duty of Care' Directive important? You know, if you take all of the big multinationals, take Nike, take Total, take Carrefour, take Vinci, take whatever companies; they make profits out of the exploitation of workers and the environment. So the principle is very simple for that directive. We are just saying that companies will have to be responsible for their subcontractors, for the whole value chain, because they cannot make profits out of this. They will have to be careful. It's a duty of care! So they will have to prevent human rights violations. And if there are human rights violations, then they can be held responsible and pay fines for it."

Aubry calls on progressive forces in the European Parliament to get together and block the watering down of such legislative acts. "To be honest, the Socialists are giving up," Aubry laments. "On the 'Stop-the-clock' directive, which is postponing the implementation of the 'Duty of Care' legislation, precisely to water it down, they voted in favour! How come they voted in favour? They were on our side to negotiate that directive, and now they agree to water it down. So I think this goes beyond that directive. It's a big question now for the whole left, for the Greens, for the Socialists, for all the progressives. Where are you? And what will you tell your kids?"

Aubry has been supporting women's reproductive freedoms, particularly in Poland amid the election of the arch-conservative president, Karol Nawrocki. "You know, there was a time when French women were going to Poland to get abortions. And now it's the other way around," Aubry points out. "And I want to tell all the feminist activists in Poland: we are together with you. We're going to keep helping you. I'm going to be back in Poland early July. I'm going to bring back abortion pills. I'm going to keep fighting to get abortion into the EU Charter for Fundamental Rights. We are in 2025. How come we're still fighting for that very simple right of abortion?"

Aubry is a well-known advocate for the Palestinian cause. We ask her if French President Emmanuel Macron is backtracking from his earlier signals that he would recognise a Palestinian state. "It looks like it. There's at least a strong hesitation," she replies. "And I remember when he made his first declaration, he said, well, that it was not the right moment to recognise the state of Palestine. But when will be the right moment? We've got 100 percent of the 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza that are at risk of famine. We've got people dying every single day under the bombs of Israel. We've got an embargo on humanitarian aid. And in the meantime, France is still delivering weapons to Israel. So I will keep fighting strongly to suspend the Association Agreement, the trade association agreement between Israel and the EU. I'll keep fighting for an embargo on weapons. We need to support Gaza. We need to support the Palestinians, because what is at stake in Gaza is not only the Palestinians. It's our humanity. And that's the humanity that we should be fighting for."

Programme prepared by Luke Brown, Perrine Desplats, Oihana Almandoz and Isabelle Romero