The EU Ombudsman has launched an investigation into von der Leyen’s secret chat with Zelenskyy and European leaders
This is reported by the Dutch investigative journalism platform Follow the Money (FTM).
The report concerns a chat group which also included German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who recently announced his resignation.
The investigation does not concern the content of the correspondence itself, but a possible breach of transparency rules by the European Commission, which refused to disclose the messages to journalists.
The existence of the chat group came to light in January 2026, with Politico being the first to report on it. In this chat group, among other things, the politicians discussed how to deal with US President Donald Trump.
Following this, Follow the Money approached the European Commission requesting access to the correspondence, but was refused. The EC stated at the time that the publication of the material could harm the EU’s international relations with third countries. The journalists then lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman.
“I have decided to launch an investigation into how the Commission handled the complainant’s request in accordance with EU legislation on public access to documents,” Anjinyu noted in a letter seen by FTM.
The Ombudsman has sent the Commission a request for a meeting to discuss Follow the Money’s complaint by mid-July. The investigation is likely to take several months.
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