The General Court of the European Union has annulled the European Commission’s decision to refuse access to text messages relating to COVID-19 vaccine negotiations, stating that doing so violated EU access to documents law and breached the principle of good administration.
In early 2021, it was revealed that President von der Leyen had exchanged text messages with Pfizer CEO during negotiations for COVID-19 vaccine procurement. Following this, a journalist from The New York Times submitted a request for access to these messages under the EU’s access to documents law (Regulation 1049/2001).
According to the Commission’s internal rules, only documents containing “important information which is not short-lived” must be registered. Since the text messages were not registered, the Commission refused the request claiming it was not in possession of the texts and therefore they did not exist for the purposes of Regulation 1049/2001.
The General Court has now decisively rejected that argument and annulled the Commission’s decision, stating that it violated its legal duties under Regulation 1049/2001 and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union by failing to conduct an adequate search and provide a reasoned response.
