Von der Leyen’s texts with Pfizer boss can be shared, says EU’s highest court

The EU’s highest tribunal has cancelled a determination to withhold Ursula von der Leyen’s substance messages with a pharmaceutical enforcement during the pandemic, successful a important decision for the committee president.

The European tribunal of justness connected Wednesday annulled a determination taken by the European Commission successful November 2022 to contradict the New York Times entree to the messages, aft a state of accusation petition by the paper.

The tribunal said that, successful its refusal, the committee did not respect the EU’s entree to documents law. In a withering appraisal it said the committee had “not fixed a plausible mentation to warrant the non-possession of the requested documents”.

It was not instantly wide if the commission, which inactive has the close to appeal, would merchandise the messages. In a connection that it would “closely study” the ruling, the EU enforcement suggested it inactive intended to artifact entree to the texts, saying it would “adopt a caller determination [on the FoI request] providing a much elaborate explanation”.

Despite those questions, the determination is simply a defining infinitesimal for von der Leyen, who is simply a fewer months into a 2nd five-year word arsenic caput of the EU executive. While praised arsenic a situation manager, von der Leyen has besides faced predominant disapproval for her top-down absorption style and been accused of lacking transparency.

In January 2023, the New York Times and its past Brussels bureau chief, Matina Stevis-Gridneff, started the lawsuit to situation a committee determination not to merchandise the substance messages.

The insubstantial had reported the beingness of the substance messages exchanged betwixt von der Leyen and the Pfizer main executive, Albert Bourla, successful an article that included interviews with both.

Von der Leyen’s idiosyncratic diplomacy was said to person unlocked 1.8bn doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine astatine a infinitesimal erstwhile the EU was falling down the UK and Israel successful the contention to unafraid jabs. Critics aboriginal alleged the committee had overpaid for the vaccines aft it emerged that Pfizer had accrued its prices to €19.50 a shot, compared with €15.50.

An investigative journalist, Alexander Fanta, asked the commission successful May 2021 to merchandise the substance messages nether the EU’s state of accusation rules. After the committee refused, helium took the lawsuit to the European Ombudsman, who recovered the committee guilty of maladministration.

Von der Leyen’s texts, Fanta wrotein the Guardian, mightiness “help to reply questions specified arsenic wherefore the EU became Pfizer’s azygous biggest lawsuit but reportedly paid a much steeper price”.

The New York Times applied to spot the substance messages successful May 2022 and went to tribunal to situation the commission’s refusal. The court’s antagonistic verdict was not unexpected, arsenic judges had criticised committee lawyers’ responses during hearings past year.

The committee had claimed the texts were sent lone to coordinate meetings, but its lawyers admitted they had not seen the messages and could not accidental whether they inactive existed.

On Wednesday, the tribunal said the committee had “not sufficiently clarified” whether the messages had been deleted and, if so, whether that “was done deliberately oregon automatically”, oregon whether the president’s telephone had been replaced successful the meantime.

Alberto Alemanno, an EU instrumentality prof astatine HEC Paris Business School, said the effect would beforehand greater accountability of EU leaders. “This judgement provides a caller reminder that the EU is governed by the regularisation of law, with its leaders taxable to the changeless scrutiny of escaped media and of an autarkic court.”

Transparency International said it was a landmark ruling that “makes wide that the commission’s contradictory attack to transparency cannot stand”.

A New York Times spokesperson said: “Today’s determination is simply a triumph for transparency and accountability successful the European Union, and it sends a almighty connection that ephemeral communications are not beyond the scope of nationalist scrutiny.”