The European Commission denied on Monday that it had tried to cover up the health of its president, Ursula von der Leyen, after the head of the EU executive was hospitalized with severe pneumonia.
Von der Leyen, 66, is the EU’s most prominent political figure. In September, she marked the start of her second five-year term as commission president by traveling to Ukraine and then to South America for a major trade meeting.
The commission said on January 3 that von der Leyen was suffering from “severe pneumonia” and that her appointments for the next two weeks had been canceled. Her schedule was reportedly cleared of meetings in Lisbon and Poland, which has just taken over the rotating EU presidency. No details were given about her condition or how she fell ill, but German news agency dpa later reported that she had been admitted to hospital. It raised questions about the transparency of the EU’s powerful executive.
Asked by reporters why news of her hospitalization was withheld, Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho said:
“We said the president had severe pneumonia. We said she was coping with a serious illness at her home in the German city of Hanover,” she said.
Pinho said the media had been informed that von der Leyen had cancelled her meetings in early January but had held important telephone conversations, including with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Reuters reports.
