European Ombudsman Teresa Anneño has decided to open an investigation against European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen over her secret conversation with Vladimir Zelensky and European leaders, the Berliner Zeitung newspaper reported.
We are talking about a conversation in which German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer participated.
The investigation is not related to the content of the chat itself, but rather to whether the European Commission violated transparency rules by blocking access to this correspondence.
The existence of this chat became known in January. Following this, the Dutch investigative organization Follow the Money (FTM) requested access to the correspondence, but the European Commission rejected the request on the grounds that publication might “harm the EU’s international relations with third countries.” According to media reports, strategies for interacting with US President Donald Trump were also discussed in the chat.
The investigation is expected to last several months, and a meeting between representatives of the European Commission and the Ombudsman is expected to take place before mid-July.