Ursula, Ursula... What about "Pfizer"?

The lawsuit was filed by the New York Times and its correspondent Matina Stevis-Gridneff, alleging a violation of transparency rules after the commission refused to hand over text messages about coronavirus vaccines to them upon request, writes Politico.

In April 2021, the journalist revealed that Von der Leyen and the CEO of "Pfizer" exchanged text messages before concluding the contract for the supply of vaccines.

The following year, it requested all text messages exchanged between Von der Leyen and Bourla between January 1, 2021, and May 11, 2022, under the EU's legal right to access public documents.

The Commission's rejection prompted her to take the case to the European Court of Justice, with the support of the newspaper where she works.

As the "New York Times" reported, the personal contact between von der Leyen and the executive director of "Pfizer" was key to reaching an agreement on the purchase of vaccines in the EU worth several billion euros at the height of the pandemic.

In the spring of 2021, the Commission, on behalf of the 27 EU member states, concluded a contract worth up to €35 billion if fully implemented for 1.8 billion doses of vaccines.

When rejecting the journalist's request, the Commission claimed that it did not have such documents.

The Commission's handling of coronavirus vaccine contracts has drawn criticism.

In 2022, the European Ombudsman strongly condemned the Commission's response to requests for access to texts.

The Office of the European Public Prosecutor is also currently investigating the purchase of coronavirus vaccines in the EU.

In a separate case, the EU's General Court ruled last year that the Commission had failed to provide public access to sales contracts for coronavirus vaccines.

At the hearing on November 15, 2023, the lawyer of the "New York Times" Bondine Kloostra, accused the Commission of violating the principles of good administration and communication, overlooking the importance of these text messages.

On the other hand, Paolo Stancanelli, the lawyer of the Commission, established that the exchanged SMS messages were in no way part of the negotiations on the terms of vaccine procurement.

He admitted the existence of the messages, but also claimed that the contract negotiations did not take place via SMS.

The Commission services, which were asked in 2022 to find the messages, contacted the von der Leyen cabinet, from which they were told that they could not find them.

The affair sparked controversy within the institutions in Brussels, and in January 2022 the Commission indicated through a spokesperson that it was considering updating its policy on access to documents, but gave no further details.