The court refuses to reject the European Commission to share the texts between von der Layen and the CEO of Pfizer during the volatile epidemic
A major European court ruled on Wednesday that the European Commission was wrong in refusing the New York Times to reach the text messages sent between President Ursula von der Layen and the head of medicines during the Covid-19s.
The case arises continuous questions about the transparency in the committee, which insists that text messages and other “fast -demise” electronic communications do not necessarily constitute documents of importance that must be rescued or announced.
“Today’s decision is the victory of transparency and accountability in the European Union, and he sends a strong message that temporary contacts are not within the reach of public audit,” said Nicole Taylor, a New York Times spokeswoman.
According to a statement issued by the European Union General Court in Luxembourg, the American newspaper’s lawyers “succeeded” refuting the assumption that there are no required documents, “according to a statement issued by the European Union General Court in Luxembourg.
The statement said that “the committee cannot only mention that it does not keep the required documents, but it must provide reliable interpretations that enable the public and the court to understand the reason for not finding these documents.”
He said that the committee failed to explain “in a reasonable way” why the messages do not contain important information.
He also said that the committee “did not clarify enough whether the required text messages were deleted, and if so, whether the deletion was intentionally or automatically or whether the president’s mobile phone has been replaced in the meantime.”
The committee said that it will study the ruling and decided to “the following steps”, which could indicate an appeal before the European Court of Justice, the European Union’s Supreme Court. It is not clear whether the relevant text messages are still present, and if so, whoever has access to them. Von der Leyen itself was responsible for determining whether the texts constitute valuable documents.
“The transparency was of the utmost importance to the committee and President von der Lin,” the committee said in a statement.
Transparency defenders argue that the Executive Branch of the European Union is increasingly strong to maintain a paper path for all its transactions and release documents when asked.
“This should be an incentive for a committee to change its restricted position on freedom of information,” said Shari Hindes, a policy policy official, said: “This should be a catalyst for a committee to change its restricted position on freedom of information,” said Shari Hindes, a policy policy official, said.
The New York Times said that the text messages were exchanged between von der Leyin and CEO of Pfizer Albert Burla in the role of Covid-19 societies from Portugal to Finland and the European Union, which has scrambled to buy billions of vaccines.
Von der Leyen was under severe scrutiny, especially after Astrazeneca stumbled to offer pollen to the mass 27 countries.
Amid fierce international competition to reach vaccinesVon Der Leyen has been praised for its main role during the epidemic. But she also faced sharp criticism for the dependence of negotiations to raise a speed of 2.7 billion euros ($ 2.95 billion) to submit a request to more than a billion doses of vaccines.
At the same time that the messages were reported directly with the Pfizer president, Von der Leyen wasPublic praiseThe company in the name of “”A reliable partner“
Von der Layen was appointed to chair the committee for a second for five years last July. Critics say that the 66 -year -old German defense minister hates making decisions, and that she is central at the headquarters of the committee, where she lives in Brussels.
During its first term, Von der Layen not only led the response of the European Union gate, but also helped the bloc quickly to rely on Russian energy, after President Vladimir Putin used natural gas as a lever to undermine European support for Ukraine.
“It is simply that the chairman of the committee does not use text messages to conduct political actions,” said Daniel Fronon, the main anti -corruption legislator and a member of a German Green Party in the European Parliament. “This ruling is a clear defeat for Orrsola von der Lynn and a clear rejection of its practice of hiding or hiding its text messages.”
Paifi Leano Sandberg, a professor of law at the University of Helsinki, who suffers from a legal challenge pending before the same court on the rules of the internal documents of the committee, described “Victory News for Transparency”.
She said: “The committee has completely lost (in this ruling) and in every land possible so that it seems that the cancellation of this in ECJ is very unlikely.”
This story was originally shown on Fortune.com
