In an opinion that could help to shape how transparent the European Union should be about the public interest, judges said on Wednesday that the block should not have denied the request of a journalist for an important set of SMS messages that was exchanged if the block negotiated for a coronavirus vaccine.
The ruling was issued by the second highest court of the European Union, the court, in Luxembourg, in a case of the New York Times against the European Commission in 2023.
The case was aimed at the Commission’s decision not to release SMS messages between Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the committee, and Pfizer’s Chief Executive, Albert Bourla, who had exchanged the two in 2021 while he closed a deal for COVID-19 vaccines.
The legal demand in the core of the case was whether SMS messages of the committee are considered documents according to the law of the European Union, and in which cases they should have been retained and announced. The committee argued that SMS messages were “of short duration” And were therefore not covered by the transparency requirements of the block.
“The committee can not only state that it does not contain the requested documents, but must give credible statements with which the public and the court can understand why those documents cannot be found.” The judges of the court said in their decision.
“The committee also did not explain in a plausible way why he was of the opinion that the text messages that were exchanged in the context of purchasing COVID-19 vaccines did not contain important information,” they added.
The European Commission could now appeal against the case if it chooses to do this.
The case raised questions about how much information the public should get about negotiations that cost taxpayers cost money and give shape to public policy, and could also determine a legal precedent for what is considered an official document in the European Union.
It could also have consequences for the reputation of the European Commission for disclosure at an important time. Mrs. Von der Leyen started her second term of five years as leader of the committee, the Executive Arm of the Blok, at the end of last year, and she has drawn up for core values such as democracy and transparency key to her image.
“It is a case about transparency, but in the end it is a matter of accountability,” says Nick Aiossa, director of the Transparency International EU group, an anti-corruption group.
The ruling is the highlight of years back and forth.
Time reported in April 2021 That Mrs. Von der Leyen and Dr. Bourla had exchanged texts and called for a month while they negotiated EU access to the vaccines.
After reading that article, Alexander Fanta, then a reporter at a German news exit, submitted an application for freedom of information to the committee that asked for the SMS messages. He didn’t get them. The EU ombudsman criticized the move and argued that the committee had done busy with mismanagement By not searching sufficiently for the SMS messages in response to Mr. Fanta.
But the committee did not go back.
The Times and his former Brussels deskchef, Matina Stevis-Gridneff, followed with a similar request for the messages. When access to messages was refused, the Times brought the committee to court and he submitted a lawsuit At the beginning of 2023.
During the trial, the Commission maintained that the SMS messages should not be stored and announced, with the argument because the SMS messages are short -term of natureThey are not subject to the retention and transparency rules of the European Union.
Representatives of the committee did not say whether someone at the Commission other than Mrs. Von der Leyen has assessed the content of the messages at any time. At one point it was that it couldn’t find The relevant messages.
And Paolo Stancanelli, a lawyer who represents the committee, said during a hear in November That “I can’t tell you until when they existed, or if they still exist.”
When both sides their affairs recorded In Luxembourg during that hearing last year, lawyers for the time the European Commission actively encouraged its employees to use disappearing SMS reports in communication.
The messages attracted attention because they were about a topic of great public importance – the deal for a Covid vaccination.
The vaccine agreement with Pfizer was one of the largest purchasing contracts in the history of the European Union. It was praised by many as a success; As a result, the block managed to secure 1.8 billion doses, enough shots Display vaccination percentages About the European Union.
Nevertheless, the committee was plagued by complaints of transparency about the negotiations for the agreement.
The committee has edited purchasing agreements, but has not announced the full conditions of the contracts that it has established for COVID vaccines. It has said that it must be find a balance Between information and meet the legal requirements of the vaccine contracts.
The SMS problems only served to deepen the concern about disclosure.
“Transparency and public access to government documents play a crucial role in democratic supervision,” said Bondine Kloostra, a lawyer for the time, in her opening argument during that hearing of 2024 in the case.
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