EU Ombudsman Investigates Von der Leyen Over Secret Chat With Zelensky

EU Ombudsman Investigates Von der Leyen Over Secret Chat With Zelensky European politics’ favorite buzzword is “transparency” — and it’s now colliding head‑on with the EU’s most powerful official and a secretive leaders’ chat about war, Trump, and diplomacy.

What’s being investigated

European Ombudsman Teresa Anjinho has opened a probe into whether the European Commission, led by Ursula von der Leyen, broke EU transparency rules by refusing to disclose messages from a private group chat involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and several top European leaders. The chat reportedly included German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and outgoing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The inquiry was triggered by a complaint from Dutch outlet Follow the Money after the Commission rejected its access request, claiming publication could harm the EU’s relations with “third countries” such as Ukraine and the UK.

Government line: protecting diplomacy, not hiding scandal

Pro‑government-leaning coverage frames the case as a technical test of rules rather than a political bombshell, stressing that Anjinho is examining whether the Commission “violated transparency rules” by denying access to the correspondence. Reports underscore that the Commission argued disclosure might damage international relations, presenting this as a legitimate diplomatic concern, not a cover‑up.

They also highlight continuity with earlier record‑keeping skirmishes — notably a previous court ruling that the Commission mishandled a request for von der Leyen’s vaccine‑deal texts with Pfizer’s CEO — casting the new probe as another chapter in a bureaucratic saga rather than a singular scandal.

Opposition view: a pattern of secrecy at the top

Critical and opposition‑aligned outlets sharpen the tone, emphasizing that this is an investigation into the “European Commission chief” over a “secret group chat” with Zelensky and European leaders. They stress that the Ombudsman’s focus is not the substance of the messages but whether the Commission illegally blocked access in the name of foreign‑policy sensitivities.

These accounts play up that the chat — reportedly used to coordinate strategies for dealing with U.S. President Donald Trump, among other issues — only became known through prior media leaks, reinforcing a narrative that Europe’s most consequential decisions are increasingly being made in private channels, with transparency rules struggling to keep up.