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 authority to keep correspondence between its president, Ursula von der Leyen, and the CEO of the American company Pfizer, conducted via SMS, confidential. This relates to the Covid-19 vaccine contract.
Although the case involves an agreement made by the EC with Pfizer four years ago, the verdict could be crucial for the future. It will determine the degree to which the EC must maintain transparency in its activities.
The complaint against the EC to the CJEU was lodged 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, about vaccines. As part of the third agreement with this American company, concluded in May 2021, the EC reserved approximately 1.8 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine for all member countries.
Among Brussels officials, there is still a belief that this contract was one of the greatest achievements of the first von der Leyen EC. As an EU source conveyed to journalists on Monday, Pfizer was at that time and likely 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 variants of the virus. Other companies lacked such capabilities, and scientists were predicting that repeated vaccination would be necessary due to the virus's mutation.
An EU official maintained that, despite acknowledging a personal bias, the initiative could be seen as a significant achievement, as by late summer 2021, a substantial majority—70%—of the EU's adult population had received vaccinations.
They emphasised that the EC also had full support from member countries, with whom it remained in contact.
The journalist requested disclosure of the conversations, the EC refused
However, the manner in which von der Leyen conducted trade negotiations with Bourla has sparked 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 consequently asked the EC to disclose the details of the conversations, but the EC refused.
The then EC Vice President Věra Jourová argued that "short-lived and ephemeral" communications are not archived and do not come under the EU's transparency rules regarding access to documents. This is also how the EC defended itself before the CJEU. The ruling will be issued on Wednesday by the General Court of the EU, a lower court of the CJEU.
