Deleted Forever: The European Commission cannot find von der Lyen’s SMS for Covid Vaccines
The European Commission said it could not find traces of registered or unregistered documents containing correspondence information between its chairman Ursula von der Lyen and the head of Pfizer Albert Burla for vaccine orders against Covid-19 during the pandemic.
The application was made after the EU General Court ruled that the Commission had no right to refuse the New York Times journalist Martina Stevi access to the documents. Stevi and her newspaper filed and won a case against the European Commission to access documents.
Following a prolonged dispute between the European Commission and the New York Times over the transparency of Pfizer’s treaties, the European Court of Justice ruled that the Commission « did not give a plausible explanation to justify the lack of the requested documents. »
The judgment of Pfizer is a blow to Ursula von der Layen’s reputation
A spokesman for the European Commission said on Wednesday that European employees are generally banned from exchange important information with text messaging. If they decide to do so, they must then transfer the file correspondence and register it as a document in case the information is evaluated by them as significant.
Von der Layen apparently did not do so, but the spokesman stressed that the assessment of whether information is important is for the employee himself.
During the pandemic, the European Commission on the Wrinkle of European Leaders set out to make common vaccine contracts by concluding several contracts with Pfizer, among other producers, for supplies to hundreds of millions of doses, which were then distributed between Member States. Treaties with the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer were the largest and exceeded several billion dollars.
The Pfizer vaccine https://www.dnevnik.bg/ « Beyontech » was the first to be authorized to go to the European market – as early as December 2020 for SMS communication between von der Lyen and the boss of the pharmaceutical company, his interviews were understood.
Judgment
After repeated unsuccessful attempts to receive the messages, the New York Times took the issue to the EU court in January 2023.
« New York Times » is suing the EU for Text Messaging on von der Layen with the boss of « Pfizer »
The New York Times correspondent in Brussels has requested access to all text messages exchanged between von der Lyen and a burla between January 1, 2021 and May 11, 2022 under the Access to Information Regulation. On Wednesday, the EU General Court overturned the committee’s refusal to provide them.
| “The Commission cannot simply claim that it does not have the requested documents, but must present reliable explanations that allow the public and the general court to understand why these Documents cannot be found, « the court ruling said. |
Magistrates say the Commission did not explain « in a plausible manner why she accepted that the text messages exchanged when purchasing vaccines against Covid-19 does not contain essential information or information requiring subsequent action » so that they were reserved in its archives.
European prosecutors have taken on the investigation into the EU Treaty on Covid Vaccines
There are also doubts as to whether the correspondence was deliberately deleted, automatically or von der Layen just changed her phone and so they were lost.
Winners and defeated
The European Commission has published a statement in response to a decision stating that it will now carefully examine the decision of the General Court and will decide on the next steps.
She assures that « transparency has always been paramount to the committee and chairman von der Layen. »
However, the spokesman of the institution said that the legal analysis of the case would not be published as there was no such practice.
The European Commission has two months to appeal the decision of the EU General Court.
« Pfizer » will reduce the number of vaccines against Covid-19 for Europe, but for a fee (supplemented)
New York Times spokesman has described magistrates as « a great victory for transparency and responsibility in the EU, which sends a strong message that ephemeral communication is not out of the scope of public control. »
« We have brought this case because European citizens deserve to understand how their leaders act and how to spend taxpayers’ money, » the US newspaper said in a statement.
