The New York Times has decided to take the European Commission to court for not publishing the exchange of messages between President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla about the negotiations that led to the purchase of the vaccine doses Covid . The newspaper argues that the commission was obliged to release the news in the name of transparency as it could contain useful information related to the acquisition of billions of dollars in vaccine doses. Politico reports on it, revealing the latest step in the close attention the NYT has been giving to the negotiations.
EU, criticism of Ursula von der Leyen: “Pfizer CEO needs clarity on SMS”
by our correspondent Daniele Castellani Perelli January 28, 2022
The New York Times limited itself to an explanation and avoided any further comment. “We make – it is said – many requests for access to documents of public interest. We cannot comment on the core issue of the case at this time.” The European Commission has not released any statements.
The lawsuit follows a line of inquiry launched in January 2022 when it was found that the commission had failed to comply with a request from journalist Alexander Fanta of netzpolitik.org, a German website specializing in digital rights, who had asked to read the exchange of messages between von der Leyen and the CEO of Pfizer. EU Transparency Commissioner Vera Jourová replied that the messages could have been deleted due to their “ephemeral nature”. The answer was rated as unsatisfactory.
The German newspaper Bild had made a similar request for access to the documents, but in connection with the negotiations that led to the European Union’s purchase of vaccines made by Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca. The documents to which Bild had access did not include the email exchanges between the President of the European Commission and Pfizer’s CEO.