EU Court reprimands Von der Leyen over SMS exchanges with Pfizer CEO

The New York Times reported in April 2021 about SMS traffic between Von der Leyen and Bourla regarding the purchase of coronavirus vaccines. The newspaper then asked the Commission for access to these messages, but it rejected the request, claiming it did not have the documents. The text messages contained no meaningful information and were therefore not registered and stored as official documents, it stated.

The Court finds this explanation insufficient. “The Commission has not provided a plausible explanation justifying the fact that it does not possess the requested documents,” the court stated in a press release. According to the Court, the Commission also did not clearly explain why the text messages would not contain important information and did not need to be retained.

The Commission can still appeal the ruling to the Court of Justice. In an initial response, it concluded that it will have to make a new decision regarding the matter, with a more detailed explanation about the decision not to keep these documents.

The Commission negotiated on behalf of the member states with major pharmaceutical companies during the coronavirus pandemic regarding the purchase of vaccines. Pfizer was by far the largest supplier. In May 2021, an agreement was announced with the American company for the delivery of up to 1.8 billion doses, the largest contract the Commission entered into during this period.

Member of the European Parliament Kathleen Van Brempt (Vooruit/S&D), chair of the special committee that scrutinized the European response during the pandemic, also unsuccessfully requested full access to the text messages. After the ruling, she now expects the Commission to act “consistently.” “The European population has the right to transparency and openness. The European institutions must provide that.”