The New York Times files a lawsuit against the European Commission

The “New York Times” has filed a lawsuit against the European Commission. This emerges from one in the public register of the EU Court of Justice, which, however, does not contain any further details on the background. Only the time when the statement of claim was filed is stored there: January 25th.

The background is apparently the “New York Times” interest in text messages between EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, which may contain information on the European purchase of Covid 19 vaccines from the pharmaceutical company.

This is reported by the US portal, citing two anonymous sources who are familiar with the matter. The newspaper therefore sees the EU Commission legally obliged to publish the news.

The New York Times declined to provide a more in-depth statement. “The Times files many freedom of information requests,” Politico said, but at this point it is not possible to comment on the content of the indictment. The EU Commission initially did not respond to a request.

“New York Times” research triggered chat debate

The newspaper may be hoping for more details on a deal between the EU and the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, which was concluded in April 2021 and included the delivery of 1.8 billion doses of vaccine. The contract volume was estimated at 35 billion euros at the time.

At the time that the personal relationship between Commission President Von der Leyen and company boss Bourla played a decisive role in the negotiations. According to this, von der Leyen and Bourla also exchanged several text messages – the “New York Times” could now be aiming for their content.

At the time, the commission rejected a request for disclosure of the chats in May 2021 based on the “New York Times” research. To put it simply: Text messages are short-lived and therefore not considered documents that need to be tracked – consequently they would not be subject to the EU’s transparency law.

Emily O’Reilly, the EU ombudswoman, had sharply criticized this. “Not all text messages need to be registered, but they clearly fall under EU transparency law,” the matter said. “Hence, relevant text messages should be captured.” The content is decisive, not the device or the form, it said.

From 2020, the EU Commission had been negotiating with various pharmaceutical companies about the delivery of corona vaccines. The procedure was repeatedly criticized, also because the contracts concluded were only partially made public.