Blue Orchid: the Commission’s ghost exercise
MEP Gerald Hauser is stepping up his questions in the European Parliament about Blue Orchid, a pandemic exercise organised by the Commission in February 2019. Though confirmed by Brussels, it nonetheless remains shrouded in deep mystery.
On 11 March 2025, Gerald Hauser, an Austrian FPÖ Member of the European Parliament, formally questioned the European Commission. His question is clear: did the Union or one of its agencies take part in pandemic simulation exercises, such as the famous Event 201 organised in New York in October 2019, just a few weeks before the emergence of Covid‑19[1]?
On 30 June 2025, the European Commissioner for Health replied. The Commission, in collaboration with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), did indeed conduct an exercise called Blue Orchid on 8 February 2019, that is, eight months before Event 201, an American coronavirus pandemic simulation organised in New York. The stated objective was to test crisis management mechanisms and communication channels between institutions[2].
But beyond this official confirmation, the mystery remains. No public documentation exists: no report, no summary, no archive describes the scenario, the actors involved or the conclusions. The opacity is total. Contrary to usual practice, where even internal exercises give rise to a minimum of communication, Blue Orchid appears to be a genuine institutional black hole.
This absence fuels legitimate questions. What pandemic had been envisaged as early as 2019? What specific risks were anticipated? And above all, why keep these elements confidential if the stated aim was collective preparedness?
On 29 July 2025, Gerald Hauser revived the matter with a new written question[3]. This time he demands specific information: the exact scenario, the list of participating institutions, the conclusions, and the reasons for the total absence of public information. To date, the Commission has still not replied. The silence drags on, and with it the unease grows.
The Blue Orchid affair goes far beyond a simple administrative malfunction. It raises a more fundamental question: how can one explain that a pandemic exercise took place in February 2019, less than a year before the worldwide explosion of Covid‑19? Is it the sign of broader planning, or a troubling coincidence that the institutions refuse to discuss?
At a time when the Commission is already weakened by PfizerGate and the opaque handling of vaccine contracts, the lack of transparency surrounding Blue Orchid can only fuel suspicion.
Finally, one last question arises: why do the only voices raising this issue come from parties classed at the margins of the political spectrum? Is it because MPs from the traditional parties, too bound up with institutional balances, do not dare to ask awkward questions? This prolonged silence is no longer a matter of mere caution, but amounts to a form of complicit naivety. Finally, is the fact that it is circulated by parties labelled “extreme” not being used to discredit from the outset the elements they bring to light, factual though they are?
Marcan for BAM!
[1] Preparedness for the COVID‑19 pandemic
[2] Answer given by Mr Várhelyi on behalf of the European Commission
