Vaccines against Covid: the European Commission in court over the SMS affair between von der Leyen and Pfizer

Three years after the revelations of the New York Times and a year and a half after the filing of a complaint by the American media, the European Commission is asked to explain text messages exchanged during the Covid crisis between Ursula von der Leyen and the boss of Pfizer Albert Bourla, the largest supplier of vaccines ordered by the European Union.

This Friday, November 15, before the court of the European Union, in Luxembourg, the European Commission reaffirmed that it did not have these exchanges and ensured that they were not part of a negotiation to purchase vaccines.

“We do not negotiate in full by SMS”

The content of the text messages has always remained secret. The Commission, whose lack of transparency has already been highlighted in this matter, affirmed in 2022 that they had not been kept. “The president (of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen) did not negotiate the conditions of the contract by SMS” with Albert Bourla, said lawyer Miguel Buron Perez to defend the attitude of the European executive. “There were exchanges by SMS to organize oral exchanges. We do not negotiate verbatim by SMS,” he added. The lawyer cited an example of an exchange: “this is what Albert Bourla may have said: we need to talk. Okay. At 6:00 a.m. CET ».

“Can those responsible escape public transparency? »

The oral hearing gave rise to lively exchanges, with the lawyer for the American daily accusing the Commission of having “violated the principles of good administration and communication” by neglecting the importance of these SMS messages. “This case raises a very important question: can those responsible escape public transparency by communicating via SMS? », questioned this lawyer, Bondine Kloostra.

The revelation in 2021 by the New York Times of the existence of text messages exchanged between Albert Bourla and the President of the European Commission sparked heated controversy. The American pharmaceutical laboratory Pfizer was then the largest supplier of anti-Covid vaccines ordered by the European Union.

The New York Times requested access to the text messages exchanged under freedom of information. The daily newspaper is based on a 2001 European regulation relating to public access to documents from the three major EU institutions (Commission, Council and Parliament). The EU court’s decision will not be issued for several weeks or even months.