Mercosur deal: Von der Leyen being probed for auto-deleting Macron's text

The backstage communications of Ursula von der Leyen are erstwhile again nether scrutiny.

The European Ombudsman has launched an enquiry into however the European Commission handled an outer petition to merchandise a substance connection that French President Emmanuel Macron had sent to von der Leyen via the Signal app.

In the message, sent successful January 2024, Macron is said to person voiced beardown concerns astir the EU-Mercosur commercialized woody and its perchance detrimental interaction connected French farmers. France is starring the number of countries that reason the agreement.

In May 2025, Alexander Fanta, a writer with Follow the Money, an investigative outlet, asked the Commission to assistance nationalist entree to Macron's text.

The enforcement aboriginal confirmed von der Leyen had received the substance but noted the contented "reiterated a well-established presumption already communicated by France" and truthful "had nary peculiar administrative oregon ineligible effect for the Commission".

Additionally, the Commission explained that, pursuing information guidelines issued successful 2022, von der Leyen activated the "disappearing messages" diagnostic of Signal. Since Macron's substance was not considered applicable capable to beryllium archived, it was automatically deleted.

Fanta's petition for accusation was subsequently denied.

The writer contested that the Commission should person preserved Macron's connection owed to its effect connected the negotiations of the EU-Mercosur deal, concluded successful December. He past filed a ailment earlier the Ombudsman, which has present led to a ceremonial inquiry.

"The Commission admits utilizing auto-delete connected VDL's Signal messages – which means we apt won't spot immoderate of them, ever. Which besides means, cipher but the Commission gets to spot and determine implicit whether to support a document, fto unsocial springiness entree to it," Fanta wrote connected his LinkedIn account.

"That means immoderate signifier of ineligible check, judicial reappraisal – poof – retired of the window."

On Wednesday, the Commission said it would cooperate with the Ombudsman's bureau and defended the usage of automatic deletion of backstage communications.

"On the 1 hand, it reduces the hazard of leaks and information breaches, which, of course, is an important origin successful this case. And (on the different hand), a question of abstraction successful the phone. The effectual usage of abstraction successful a mobile device," a spokesperson said.

"The president astatine each times observed the respective rules."

The caller lawsuit bears beardown resemblances to the alleged Pfizergate, which prompted a reckoning implicit transparency successful Brussels.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ursula von der Leyen gave an interrogation to The New York Times successful which she explained however she had negotiated a vaccine woody worthy €2.4 cardinal direclty with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla by means of substance messages.

The paper aboriginal submitted a petition for accusation to entree those texts, arguing they were applicable to policy-making and truthful deserved to beryllium made public.

The Commission said it could not supply the texts.

After repeated unsuccessful attempts to get the messages, The New York Times brought the substance earlier the EU's Court of Justice.

In May, the justice ruled that the Commission had not fixed a "plausible mentation to warrant the non-possession of the requested documents". The enforcement yet published a much elaborate reasoning, but the Pfizer texts were ne'er released.