The European Commission erred when it refused to publish text messages exchanged between Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Burl during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled.
Journalists have been seeking access to secret messages exchanged between the Commission President and the CEO of a pharmaceutical company ahead of a multi-billion euro vaccine deal between the EU and Pfizer, a scandal that has become known as Pfizergate.
The ruling could have huge consequences for transparency and accountability in the EU and represents a serious blow to Ursula von der Leyen's reputation.
In a statement, the EU General Court stated that the Commission "has not convincingly explained why it considers that the text messages exchanged in the context of the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines do not contain important information or information requiring further monitoring and the preservation of which must be ensured," Nova.rs reports.
The existence of these messages — which the Commission initially did not even confirm — was revealed in an interview that Ursula von der Leyen gave to The New York Times in 2021.
However, the EU executive told a court in Luxembourg during a hearing last year that the content of the messages was not significant enough to qualify as a document — and therefore the messages were not registered or made available for publication by journalists.
"The Commission cannot simply claim that it does not possess the requested documents, but must provide convincing explanations that enable the public and the Court to understand why those documents cannot be found," the court added in a statement.
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