EU court to rule on von der Leyen's secret Pfizer texts
The Court of Justice of the EU will decide on Wednesday whether the European Commission had the right to withhold correspondence that its president, Ursula von der Leyen, had via SMS with the CEO of the American company, Pfizer. This matter concerns the contract for COVID-19 vaccines.
Although the case pertains to an agreement made by the EC with Pfizer four years ago, its verdict could have significant future implications. It will define the extent to which the EC must be transparent in its actions.
The complaint against the EC to the CJEU was filed by the American newspaper, "The New York Times," and its journalist, Matina Stevis, who in 2022 unsuccessfully sought access to the conversations between von der Leyen and Pfizer's CEO, Albert Bourla, regarding vaccines. As part of the third agreement with this American company, concluded in May 2021, the EC reserved 1.8 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for all member countries.
Brussels officials still believe that this contract was one of the greatest successes of von der Leyen's initial term with the EC. As an EU source explained to journalists on Monday, Pfizer was then—and probably remains—the only company capable of providing the necessary number of doses for Europe.
Pfizer also offered a vaccine that could be adapted to new virus variants. Other companies lacked such capabilities, and scientists predicted that repeated vaccination would be necessary due to the virus’s mutation.
An EU official acknowledged a personal bias but maintained that the effort was a significant success. They noted that by the end of summer 2021, 70% of the EU’s adult population had been vaccinated. They also highlighted the European Commission’s strong backing from member states and ongoing coordination throughout the process.
The journalist requested disclosure of the conversations, but the EC refused
However, how von der Leyen negotiated trade with Bourla has raised controversy. In April 2021, the Pfizer CEO told "The New York Times" in an interview that he had such a good relationship with the EC president that they exchanged messages via SMS. The newspaper's correspondent, therefore, requested that the EC disclose the conversation details, but the EC refused.
The then EC Vice President, Věra Jourová, argued that "short-lived and ephemeral" communications are not archived and do not fall within the EU's transparency rules regarding document access. The EC has put forward this defense before the CJEU. The General Court of the EU, a lower instance of the CJEU, will issue the ruling on Wednesday.
