8 hours agoEC denies it has concealed the hospital hospital hospital hospital at Ursula von der Leyen
Periskopi(a year ago)
(a year ago)The European Commission has denied Monday that it has tried to conceal the state of health of its president, Ursula von der Leyen, as she was hospitalised with serious pneumonia. Von der Leyen, 66, is the highest profile political figure in the EU. In September, it marked the beginning of its mandate [...]
The European Commission has denied Monday that it has tried to conceal the state of health of its president, Ursula von der Leyen, as she was hospitalised with serious pneumonia.
Von der Leyen, 66, is the highest profile political figure in the EU. In September, it marked the beginning of its second five-year term as Commission president, travelling to Ukraine and later to South America for a major trade meeting, the AP reports.
On January 3rd, the Commission had said that von der Leyeen was ill with “serious pneumonia” and that her meetings for the next two weeks had been cancelled. He has announced that her agenda was cleared of meetings in Lisbon and Poland, which has just assumed the rotating EU presidency.
No details were given about her condition or how she is sick, but the German news agency later reported that she was hospitalised. The agency has raised questions about transparency in the EU's powerful executive branch.
Asked by reporters why the news about her hospital lying was hidden, Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho has said they had announced she had serious pneumonia.
So we gave you critical information on the state of president, saying what his illness was and how serious he was”, Pinho said in response to some journalists' questions, without explaining why they hid hospital details.
Von der Leyen is reported to have spent eight days in the hospital.
Pinho has added that the president “is healing” and that she will return to Brussels late this week. /Time
