The European Commission violated EU law by denying a request from The New York Times to review text messages between the commission’s president and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, the European Court of Justice ruled today.
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The European Commission violated European Union (EU) law by denying a request from The New York Times to review text messages between Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled today.
The text messages contained discussions about the EU’s purchase of COVID-19 vaccine doses.
The ruling, described by Politico as a “landmark legal decision” and a “major win” for transparency in what is widely known as the “Pfizergate” scandal, strikes down the European Commission’s decision not to release the messages.
Euronews reported that the European Commission — the EU’s executive branch — claimed it does not possess the texts. But according to the ruling, the commission did not provide “plausible explanations” to justify “the non-existence or non-possession” of the documents.
German scholar Harald Walach, Ph.D., founder and director of the Change Health Science Institute and research fellow at Kazimieras Simonavicius University in Lithuania, said he was “positively surprised” by the ruling. He said that previously, “the stonewalling of the Commission and politicians has always been backed by courts.”
According to Politico, the existence of the text messages was first revealed in a 2021 interview the Times conducted with Bourla about the EU’s purchase of up to 1.8 billion doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for 35 billion euros ($39.2 billion).
In December 2020, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was the first COVID-19 vaccine to receive EU authorization. An unnamed EU official told Euronews, “These contracts were totally unprecedented in a totally unprecedented context.”
Politico reported that the EU contract with Pfizer was the largest vaccine contract in EU history.
In 2022, Times journalist Matina Stevis-Gridneff asked the commission for the text messages between von der Leyen and Bourla. According to Euronews, following “repeated unsuccessful attempts to obtain the messages,” the Times filed its complaint with the ECJ in January 2023.
Euractiv quoted a Times spokesperson, who said the ruling “is a victory for transparency and accountability in the European Union.“
“It is a scandal in itself that the president of the commission made a deal worth billions via text message with no real parliamentary control,” Walach said. “It is even a greater scandal that this material was kept hidden from public view.”
In a statement quoted by Politico, the commission said, “Transparency has always been of paramount importance for the Commission and President von der Leyen,” adding that the commission “will continue to strictly abide by the solid legal framework in place to enforce our obligations” and will review its “next steps.”
Politico reported that the ruling is “likely to have huge repercussions for transparency and accountability in the EU” and is “particularly damaging” to von der Leyen — “the EU’s most powerful official and guardian of the EU treaties.”
Von der Leyen has previously advocated for vaccine passports and mandatory COVID-19 vaccination.
The commission has two months to file an appeal. Dutch attorney Meike Terhorst said, “The Commission will probably appeal and not hand over the text messages,” likening the process to a “cat-and-mouse game.”
In a separate case last year, the ECJ ruled that the commission’s decision to heavily redact key portions of COVID-19 vaccine contracts with pharmaceutical companies during the pandemic violated transparency rules.
‘A troubling pattern of secrecy’
According to Politico, the commission “initially claimed the messages didn’t qualify as documents according to its internal rules due to their ephemeral nature.” The commission then “maintained ambiguity” over the messages’ existence.
Last year, an EU executive told the ECJ that the messages’ contents weren’t significant enough to classify them as documents.
The Times argued that under the EU’s 2001 regulation on public access to documents, text messages qualify as “documents” that should be preserved.
The ECJ agreed with the Times’ argument, writing in its ruling that the commission’s demand that applicants prove the requested messages existed is an “impossible” standard for ordinary citizens to meet. According to the decision, text messages are covered by transparency laws if they relate to official business.
Christof Plothe, D.O., a member of the World Council for Health steering committee, said, “The Commission’s handling of this matter has sent a damaging message about transparency in EU institutions.”
“Despite positioning itself as a champion of open governance, its refusal to disclose these communications — which reportedly played a ‘central role’ in negotiating the largest contract in EU history — reveals a troubling pattern of secrecy,” Plothe said.
Ruling may have ‘ripple effects’ globally
Jeffrey Tucker, president and founder of the Brownstone Institute, said the contents of the messages, if revealed, may have global implications and are “crucial to unearthing the machinations that took place out of the public eye.”
“After years of research, we have gradually pieced together the story, but there are many receipts we still await, these texts among them. What they likely reveal is a collaborative relationship between governments and an enormously powerful industry,” Tucker said.
Plothe said the ruling “may have ripple effects beyond Europe,” as other countries may now re-examine their contracts with COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers.
“Should the disclosed messages reveal questionable practices in the EU’s vaccine negotiations, other nations might be compelled to re-examine their own pandemic-era contracts with pharmaceutical giants,” Plothe said.
This may lead to “renewed scrutiny” of these contracts, “with possible legal and reputational consequences for all parties involved.”
The Times case is just one of several cases at the European and national level, challenging the EU’s vaccine procurement procedures.
According to Politico, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has launched a criminal probe into the EU’s purchase of COVID-19 vaccines, through which “investigators could, in theory, access telecom providers or app servers to retrieve deleted messages — depending on local data retention laws.”
Yet, Laura Codruţa Kovesi, the head of the EPPO, faces a criminal complaint filed by Belgian lobbyist Frederic Baldan, claiming Kovesi and the EPPO did not uphold standards of transparency and impartiality in investigating the allegations against von der Leyen regarding COVID-19 vaccine procurement.
France Noir reported that a criminal complaint filed in Belgium, with the support of Hungary and Poland, accuses von der Leyen of corruption and destroying public documents. A Belgian court ruled against the plaintiffs, but an appeal is pending.
Rob Roos, a former member of the European Parliament from the Netherlands, is a plaintiff in the case. In a post on X following the ECJ ruling, he wrote, “my case … was ruled inadmissible, while a foreign newspaper was accepted. Transparency isn’t optional. Democracy demands it. Back to court.”
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Roos’ attorney, Diane Protat, said the ECJ ruling was an example of double standards. “What about European citizens, EU member states, the European members of parliament that have asked for the messages in the criminal hearing in Belgium? Do they have less right to transparency than an American newspaper?”
“Only a criminal proceeding can help find the text messages or force it. The New York Times knows it, but did not join this criminal complaint,” Protat said.
The Times ruling comes less than a year after the European Parliament re-elected von der Leyen as the commission’s president. Following her re-election, von der Leyen pledged to uphold standards of transparency in her second term.
In 2022, Bourla refused to testify before the European Parliament. Documents leaked that year reveal U.S. and EU officials pressured European drug regulators to rush approval of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine despite safety concerns.
In 2023, the European Parliament blocked an attempt to cross-examine von der Leyen regarding the text messages. But according to Terhorst, members of the European Parliament are now “requesting the text messages, and it can become very difficult to continue to not hand over these messages.”
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