Court rules on von der Leyen’s missing Covid vaccine texts

The European Commission acted improperly by refusing to release communications with Pfizer to the media, the ruling states

The European Commission acted improperly in denying the media access to text messages between its president, Ursula von der Leyen, and pharma giant Pfizer which were sent during negotiations to purchase Covid-19 vaccines, the EU’s second-highest court ruled on Wednesday.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) sided with The New York Times, which brought the case after the EC refused to release the messages.

The case centers on a 2021 interview in which von der Leyen provided insight into her negotiations with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla that led to a major vaccine deal. Following the article’s publication, the NYT filed a formal public access request, but the EC claimed the texts were not in its possession.

The court said in a statement that since von der Leyen had acknowledged the messages, the EC “cannot merely state that it does not hold the requested documents but must provide credible explanations enabling the public and the Court to understand why those documents cannot be found.” It also criticized the Commission for failing to justify why the texts were not retained and to clarify how they were deleted.

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In response, the EC said it recognized the need for greater transparency and promised to issue a new decision with more detailed reasoning. It did not, however, commit to releasing the messages in question. The ruling can be appealed to the European Court of Justice.

A similar CJEU judgment last July found that the EC lacked transparency in how it negotiated vaccine contracts with Pfizer and AstraZeneca. The deals, signed in 2020 and 2021 and worth approximately €2.7 billion ($3 billion), were shielded from disclosure to European Parliament members on the grounds of protecting commercial interests.