Ursula von der Leyen’s promises hope on World Brain Cancer Day

BRUSSELS - Yesterday, on World Brain Cancer Day, Ursula von der Leyen once again demonstrated why she remains one of the most resilient political figures in Europe.

While lesser mortals might have spent the last year quietly celebrating not spending the rest of their lives behind bars after losing a court case over €35 billion in deleted text messages, von der Leyen simply waited it all out.

“Five-year survival rates are improving,” she told the audience. “We are investing €4 billion through the Beating Cancer Plan, including €600 million dedicated to research projects, so that no one - regardless of income - has to face these terrible diseases alone.”

Let us review what she has achieved while remaining firmly in her unelected position:

• €35 billion Pfizer contract for 1.8 billion doses, negotiated via text messages that the EU General Court ruled in May 2025 had not been properly searched for or explained. The judgment is final. The messages remain lost.

• Roughly 80 % of the adult population in many EU member states took part in the largest mRNA rollout in history — the very campaign she personally drove and defended as safe and effective.

• €4 billion total Beating Cancer Plan envelope, of which €600 million was highlighted yesterday for new research — announced on World Brain Cancer Day, just as regional European data continues to show sharp rises in aggressive brain tumours in the years following that same rollout.

• Some studies recorded increases of up to 300 % in certain brain and skin cancer diagnoses by 2022 compared with 2017. Other reports speak of unusually rapid “turbo” tumours appearing in younger patients.

Previous hurdles:

The Consultants Affair (Berateraffäre) – German Defense Minister era (2018–2020)

• Her ministry spent €100–150 million per year on external consultants (McKinsey, Accenture and others) while officially declaring only a tiny fraction. Accusations of bypassing public procurement rules, cronyism and massive under-reporting. Federal Audit Office and Bundestag launched investigations.
• Her official Defense Ministry phone data was deleted/wiped “for security reasons” after parliamentarians requested it as evidence — strikingly parallel to the later Pfizer text messages vanishing. She left the job and was elevated to Commission President anyway.

Doctoral Thesis Plagiarism Allegations (2015–2016)

• VroniPlag Wiki documented significant plagiarism across dozens of pages in her 1991 medical dissertation. Hannover Medical School investigation confirmed plagiarism existed but ruled there was “no intent to deceive.” She kept her Dr. title. There were also questions about CV embellishment (a claimed Stanford residency that didn’t check out). She survived and kept climbing.

Husband Heiko von der Leyen / Orgenesis EU Funding (2022–2023)

• While she was Commission President, her husband served as Medical Director of Orgenesis (US biotech focused on cell & gene therapies). The company’s Italian subsidiary received EU Horizon Europe research funds and Italian recovery plan money. European Parliament raised conflict-of-interest questions.
• EU Transparency Commissioner cleared it (no violation, proper recusal, his involvement predated some grants). He resigned from one supervisory board. No proven wrongdoing and Orgenesis has no ownership or direct contract link to Pfizer (debunked).

She survived multiple no-confidence motions over Pfizergate (2025).

The Pfizergate backdrop

The New York Times reported in April 2021 that von der Leyen personally negotiated the massive Pfizer deal via text messages and calls with CEO Albert Bourla.

The European Ombudsman later slammed the Commission for maladministration.

In May 2025 the EU General Court’s Grand Chamber ruled that the Commission had violated transparency rules - it failed to properly search for the messages or give a plausible explanation for why they vanished.

The judgment is final. The texts remain lost.

Her phone may have been replaced (standard security policy, they said).

Apple (or whoever hosts the backups of a high-level EU iPhone) has offered no public assistance in recovering what the Commission claims is gone forever.

From vanished evidence to new flagship funding

The Beating Cancer Plan itself was launched in February 2021 - the same month von der Leyen was personally texting Pfizer’s Albert Bourla to secure the biggest single pharmaceutical contract in EU history.

Now the same institution that could not retain those negotiation records has located €600 million to study the cancers that some datasets show accelerating in the aftermath.

Talk about narrative management and performance art at the highest level.

Von der Leyen smiled for the cameras like a concerned grandmother and reminded everyone that the EU will spare no expense to fight the very cancers that “mysteriously” began behaving differently right after her greatest public-health triumph.

Stay tuned for the sequel speech:

“Why Your Sudden Aggressive Tumor Is Actually a Feature of Our Resilient European Health Union - And Why Asking About the Deleted Texts Is Disinformation.”

A TED-style fireside chat, sponsored by you taxes.