In a case that could help shape transparency rules in a digital era, a court on Wednesday said the European Union should not have denied a journalist’s request for text messages exchanged as a top official negotiated for coronavirus vaccine access.
The case centered on the European Commission’s denial of the request, from a New York Times journalist, for text messages between Ursula von der Leyen, president of the commission, and Pfizer’s chief executive, Dr. Albert Bourla. The two had exchanged the texts in 2021 while striking a deal for Covid-19 vaccines.
When the commission refused to provide the messages, The Times in early 2023 brought a case challenging that decision in court.
The question at the core of the case was whether Ms. von der Leyen’s text messages were covered by E.U. transparency laws and should have potentially been released.
While the commission had said that it could not find the messages in question, it never explained how extensively it had searched for them; it simply argued that text messages are “short-lived” by nature and do not contain important information that would require them to be retained and disclosed. It remains unclear whether the messages still exist or whether they have been deleted.
The General Court in Luxembourg ruled that the commission did not provide enough explanation in refusing the request.
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