Court rules in favor of the New York Times over texts between an EU chief and a pharma boss

BRUSSELS (AP) — A apical European tribunal ruled connected Wednesday that the European Commission was incorrect to garbage the New York Times entree to substance messages sent betwixt President Ursula von der Leyen and a pharmaceutical brag during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. newspaper’s lawyers “succeeded successful rebutting the presumption of non-existence and of non-possession of the requested documents,” according to a connection from the European Union’s General Court successful Luxembourg.

The lawsuit highlights ongoing questions astir oversight of the commission, which insists that substance messages and different “ephemeral” physics communications bash not needfully represent documents of involvement that should beryllium saved oregon made public.

A connection from the tribunal said that “the committee cannot simply authorities that it does not clasp the requested documents but indispensable supply credible explanations enabling the nationalist and the tribunal to recognize wherefore those documents cannot beryllium found.”

It said that the committee had failed to explicate “in a plausible manner” wherefore the messages did not incorporate important information.

It besides said that the committee “has not sufficiently clarified whether the requested substance messages were deleted and, if so, whether the deletion was done deliberately oregon automatically oregon whether the President’s mobile telephone had been replaced successful the meantime.”

Transparency advocates reason that the EU’s progressively almighty enforcement subdivision should physique a insubstantial way of each its dealings and merchandise documents erstwhile asked.

The New York Times said texts were exchanged betwixt Von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla arsenic COVID-19 ravaged communities from Portugal to Finland and the EU scrambled to bargain billions of vaccines.

Von der Leyen was nether aggravated scrutiny, particularly aft AstraZeneca stumbled to present vaccine doses to the 27-nation bloc.

Amid fierce planetary contention for the entree to vaccines, von der Leyen was praised for her starring relation during the pandemic, but she besides recovered herself receiving crisp disapproval for the opacity of the negotiations to rapidly stitchery 2.7 cardinal euros ($2.95 billion) to spot an bid for much than a cardinal doses of vaccines.

At the aforesaid clip arsenic she was reported to beryllium exchanging messages straight with the Pfizer boss, von der Leyen was publicly praising the institution arsenic “ a reliable partner.”

The committee has conscionable implicit 2 months to motorboat an entreaty to the European Court of Justice should it determine to contention Wednesday’s ruling.

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Lorne Cook successful Brussels contributed to this report.