The European Court of Justice has ruled that the European Commission violated transparency rules by hiding from the media correspondence between Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Burla regarding the procurement of coronavirus vaccines for EU member states at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Commission’s decision to refuse to grant journalists from The New York Times access to text messages between Von der Leyen and the CEO of Pfizer is annulled,” the ruling said.
The media writes that the case is legally complicated for Von der Leyen, because she not only personally signed the largest vaccine procurement contract in the EU, worth billions of euros, but also chairs the institution responsible for enforcing EU law, which implies the principles of transparency and accountability.
