The Court sits with the New York Times on access to the EU Covid Vaccine Messages

In a case that could help shape transparency rules in the digital age, a court said on Wednesday that the European Union should not have refused the request for a journalist for text messages exchanged as a senior official negotiated for access to the coronavirus vaccine.

The case was centered on the refusal of the European Commission’s request, to a journalist from the New York Times, for text messages between Ursula von der Leyen, president of the committee, and the general manager of Pfizer, Dr Albert Bourla. The two had exchanged the texts in 2021 while concluding an agreement for COVVI-19 vaccines.

When the commission refused to provide the messages, the Times at the beginning of 2023 brought a case contesting this decision before the court.

The question at the heart of the case was whether the text messages from Ms. von der Leyen were covered by the EU transparency laws and should have been published.

Although the Commission said that she could not find the messages in question, he never explained how much he had sought them; He simply argued that text messages are “short -lived” by nature and do not contain important information that would require that they be preserved and disclosed. It is not clear if messages still exist or if they have been deleted.

The Luxembourg court judged that the commission had not provided enough explanations to refuse the request.