About the author

Frédéric Baldan

Frédéric is a former European lobbyist, specialist in China-EU affairs, first plaintiff in the criminal case against Ursula von der Leyen, fundamental rights activist and author.

The legal case he initiated was covered by over 150 media outlets in more than 30 countries, and attracted almost 3,000 other victims from all over Europe - both plaintiffs and defendants - including EU member states, parties, sailors and parents who lost their children to serious side effects. Its action is recognized as historic and unprecedented in the EU.

Originally from Huy, a town located in the province of Liège in Belgium

Frédéric was trained in networks and telecommunications by the American giant Cisco when he was a teenager. He went on to study civil engineering (polytechnicien) at the University of Liège's Faculty of Applied Sciences. Influenced by a lawyer who came to his parents' aid, he decided to study law as an independent student at the same university.

This led him to take an interest in the sale of public property in his hometown at symbolic prices. These sales appeared to him as acts of mismanagement resulting in damage to the public interest. Together with other residents, including a former federal police commissioner, he decided to take a stand against local politicians and developers.

En 2010, alors qu’elle est massivement endettée, la Ville de Huy vend son immeuble public sur le site dit du « Quadrilatère » ; celui-ci représente plusieurs milliers de mètres carrés en centre-ville. De manière très surprenante, alors que l’autorité locale valorisait cet actif immobilier à 1,2 million d’euros dans sa comptabilité, les politiques locaux décident ensuite de le vendre pour 100 euros symboliques à la société immobilière d’une famille de politiciens originaires du nord du pays. La décision de vendre à vil prix est motivée par une prétendue urgence qui découlerait d’un soudain mauvais état du bâtiment.

Curieusement, dans les comptes de cette société immobilière qui est au départ une coquille vide sans aucune expérience dans le secteur de la construction, on découvre que cet immeuble de 100 euros  fait ensuite l’objet d’une réévaluation à hauteur d’environ 1 million d’euros. Preuve que le patrimoine collectif a bien été privatisé sans contrepartie, et cela, au préjudice de tous les habitants. Cette opération permet ainsi à la société de disposer d’ une structure financière suffisante pour attirer des investisseurs et réaliser alors un projet immobilier évalué dans la presse à 20 millions d’euros. Une bonne affaire ayant permis à ces acquéreurs flamands de s’enrichir personnellement tout en tirant parti de cette acquisition pour s’inviter dans la politique de la ville. Cette vente fait toutefois l’objet d’une instruction judiciaire diligentée par le juge Liégeois Philippe Richard ; de nombreuses perquisitions ont été menées et un dossier est toujours à l’instruction aujourd’hui pour suspicion de corruption.

Learning the modus operandi of white-collar crime

Frédéric gradually developed a mastery of the law - both administrative and criminal - thanks to regular practice of these enriching local experiences. He also learned to understand the habits and workings of the administration, the press and the justice system. This singular experience is at the root of his disillusionment with the democratic nature of our society, the independence of powers and counter-powers, the pursuit of the general interest by public leaders, and above all with the dichotomy of pseudo-oppositions between left and right-wing political families—a form of permanent theater.

His work in the fight against corruption brought him into contact with other transparency activists and NGOs active in this field, notably Cumuleo and Transparencia. He then became an activist for fundamental rights, in particular administrative transparency. In this way, he acquired an understanding of the principles governing infringements of fundamental rights: legitimacy, necessity and strict proportionality; as well as the provisions of the Belgian Penal Code concerning offences attributable to civil servants and agents of public authority. This later enabled him to implicate Ursula von der Leyen, a civil servant and President of the European Commission.

This atypical path has enabled him to acquire expertise in financial crime. He discovered little-known methods such as the “rack-and-pinion chain”, which consists in dividing a global operation into a series of discrete, irreversible steps. He also learned to identify the abusive use of the notion of urgency, the one used by political decision-makers to exempt themselves from respecting legal frameworks and the principles of good administration.

Entering the world of European lobbying

At the same time, and somewhat by chance, Frédéric became a European lobbyist in Brussels, moving away from business in his home town. He married and moved to the countryside in a village near Hannut.

His work as a lobbyist involves helping small stakeholders assert their rights and stop abuses of the law. He takes on monopolies and enables victims of political and economic crime to build their defense or counter-attack. It is developing expertise in economic and political intelligence. He specializes in Sino-European relations; a lobbyist profile that doesn't conform to industry norms.

In November 2019, Frédéric will accompany the Secretary of State for the Brussels-Capital Region, responsible for European and International Relations and Foreign Trade, to China, and will then join the delegation accompanying Princess Astrid of Belgium on a visit to the same country.

The foundations of social credit not in China but in the EU

After creating a stupefying effect by imposing arbitrary deprivations of freedom and home incarceration - the “confinements” - , on March 17, 2021, Euronews announces that Ursula von der Leyen is presenting a draft regulation, the EU Vaccination Certificate. With his dual experience of China and European institutions, Frédéric quickly understands that this is a copy of China's social credit system, but this time within the EU.

The lives of the inhabitants are then conditioned by the “EU Digital Covid Certificate”, a device known as the “Covid Safe Ticket” (CST) in Belgium. Many lack the financial or intellectual resources to defend themselves against the authorities. The public mobilized and collectives were created, such as Notre Bon Droit, which led the battle through the courts and finally obtained a ruling from the Belgian courts condemning the CST.

At the time, children were being targeted by public authorities and industrialists. As you'll discover when you read the book, this is an odious lie on the part of the institutions. This is one of the reasons why purchase contracts such as Pfizer's have been kept secret. One of these contracts was negotiated in secret and by SMS directly between Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and Ursula von der Leyen.

Curiously, the European Commission has set up various expert and negotiating committees to ensure that Pfizer cannot bribe Commission members. Ursula von der Leyen, however, circumvented this mechanism set up by her own Commission, but to what end? Even today, she refuses to provide copies of her SMS messages, which are public documents relating to a negotiation.

A gradual drift towards authoritarianism

Shortly after his return to Belgium, measures restricting his freedom were put in place. Access to institutions became forbidden for “health” reasons, which led Frédéric to spend time in his new locality, failing to prove the arbitrary nature of public decisions. His child was born at the beginning of 2020, cutting him off from the world of institutions.

During this period of health hysteria, on the instructions of politicians, the judiciary is targeting innocent citizens and shopkeepers instead of pursuing the real criminals. The judiciary is carrying out its duties with complete disregard for the rule of law and the separation of powers. In the press, measures to restrict freedom are presented as legitimate and proportionate, even though they appear to be arbitrary.

Instead of making room for the debate necessary to the collective intelligence and manifestation of truth, most media play into the hands of the lobbies and denigrate any form of challenge to the narrative. Marginal and eccentric characters are highlighted as if their behavior were representative of the majority, which has the effect of discrediting the mass of those opposed to the violation of human rights. Moderates find no support to make their voices heard. In short, these are the classic springs of propaganda and lobbying - not those of journalism.

“Any truth goes through three stages, first it is ridiculed, then it is violently opposed and finally it is accepted as self-evident.”

(attributed to Arthur Schopenhauer)

For the most part, politicians and the media keep repeating that these liberticidal measures are based on science: but which science? The science of crowd manipulation of Gustave Le Bon and Edward Bernays? Plunged into a form of hypnosis or collective hysteria, they believe they hold a scientific truth and manage to convince themselves that they are acting in spite of us, but for our own good. No one was paying attention at the time, but this speech was propaganda linked to the “#Sciencewillwin” lobbying campaign, devised by the famous firm responsible for starting the Gulf War. Unscrupulous lobbyists come to “sell us a war”, but this time with a virus. The press should take a long, hard look at itself, because it's always being manipulated by the same firms.

“Science without conscience is but the ruin of the soul.

(François Rabelais)

As far as Belgian justice is concerned, this is a dark page in its history. A symbol that will live on is the photo of the Belgian police protecting the empty Pfizer building in Brussels from peaceful demonstrators. The police were protecting a multi-condemned company instead of the citizens whose fundamental rights were being violated. It's enough to make you wonder about the real deviation of the commitment required of these police officers: “to protect and serve”, but who?

Were the most vulnerable protected from the lobbies? Where was the conscience of the political world and the press? The suicide of young Liège woman Alyson Jadin in August 2020 provides a definitive answer to these questions. She was one of those people whom the public authorities deemed “non-essential” and whose fundamental rights had been violated. Whatever the political world may wish to maintain in its irresponsibility, for many of us, when it comes to translating the reality of the times we remember, young Alyson Jadin will forever remain essential!

The penetration of the pharmaceutical and data lobbies

Invited by chance to take part in the “European Health Summit”, Frédéric decides to attend the event to see for himself which lobbies were active during the health crisis. This seemingly unimportant activity enabled Frédéric to understand what happened to our data during the crisis, and what the lobbies did to profit from it. All the ingredients for his book.

Testimony of women sailors, the trigger for the offensive

Once again allowed access to the European Parliament due to the lifting of restrictions, Frédéric discovered a poster for a conference on air safety in one of the corridors of the Brussels building. Since this was one of the themes he was to follow as a lobbyist, he decided to go to Strasbourg and attend. There, he listens to flight attendants and pilots testify to the side effects and destruction of their lives caused by political measures. The flight attendants sounded the alarm to preserve air safety. Flight attendants have effectively been financially and socially forced into injections by Ursula von der Leyen's “EU Digital Covid Certificate”. Frédéric's attendance at this conference led to a meeting with his future lawyer, Diane Protat.

The shocking testimony of Leaticia - a flight attendant - prompted Frédéric to attend a hearing organized by the COVI Special Committee at the European Parliament.

The audition that led to the collapse of the “#Sciencewillwin” narrative.

Then came Janine Small, the Pfizer representative who had come to replace its CEO Albert Bourla, who had refused to appear to answer the MEPs' questions. During her hearing, Janine Small provided proof that the EU Digital Covid Certificate and the associated infringements of rights and freedoms were never legitimate, proportionate or strictly necessary. Now that he had proof of the arbitrary nature of the political decisions, Frédéric understood that criminal offences had been committed by civil servants and representatives of the public authorities.

What's next?

This hearing prompted Frédéric to refer the matter to the College of Public Prosecutors in Belgium. The latter tacitly refused to act, so Frédéric filed a civil action with the Liège examining magistrate Frédéric Frenay in April 2023. Assisted by French lawyer Diane PROTAT, the complaint he filed was against Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, for corruption, illegal interest-taking, destruction of administrative documents, and usurpation of titles and functions. This complaint, unprecedented in the history of the EU, led to Frédéric Baldan's disbarment as a European lobbyist.

As a professional in the lobbying industry and a regular visitor to the European institutions, Frédéric discovered many disturbing facts about Ursula von der Leyen. He decided to turn them into a book entitled “UrsulaGates: la compromission par les lobbys” (UrsulaGates: compromise through lobbying), so that the public would finally have access to the information. The world of Brussels lobbying seen from the inside.

We invite you to discover this unique work.

Published November 05, 2024
By Éditions Droits et Libertés

About the book