BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Commission denied Monday that it had tried to cover up the health of its president, Ursula von der Leyen, after the head of the EU’s executive branch was hospitalized with serious pneumonia.
Von der Leyen, 66, is the EU’s most high-profile political figure. In September, she marked the start of her second five-year term as committee chair by traveling to Ukraine and then South America for a major trade meeting.
On January 3, the committee had said that von der Leyen was ill with “severe pneumonia” and that her appointments for the next two weeks had been canceled. It says her agenda has been cleared of meetings in Lisbon and in Poland, which has just taken over the EU’s rotating presidency.
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No details were given about her condition or how she became ill, but the German news agency dpa later reported that she had been hospitalized. It raised questions about transparency in the EU’s powerful executive branch.
Asked by reporters why news of her hospitalization was withheld, committee spokesperson Paula Pinho said: “We said the president had severe pneumonia. We said she was dealing with a serious illness” at her home in the German city of Hannover.
Pinho said the media was aware that von der Leyen had canceled her appointments in early January but was making important calls, including with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and handling committee business.
“We therefore gave you crucial information about the president’s health status, saying what illness she had and how serious it was,” Pinho said in response to questions from several reporters, without explaining why the hospital data was withheld. “Her ability to act was never in question.”
Von der Leyen spent eight days in hospital from June 2 to 10. Pinho said the president was “recovering well” and would return to Brussels at the end of this week to her office at the commission, where she has a small apartment.
The former German Minister of Defense usually maintains a punishing travel schedule. She will attend a session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France next week and travel to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
After taking office in 2019, von der Leyen led the EU’s push to secure COVID-19 vaccines and was a strong supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russia. With governments in France and Germany weakened, it has sought to play a greater role in the affairs of the 27-nation bloc.
