EU Court of Justice slams Commission for lack of transparency over COVID vaccines contracts

The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) found that the European Commission was wrong to restrict access to COVID-19 vaccine purchase contracts to citizens, in a decision handed down on Wednesday (July 17).

Between 2020 between 2021, and 2023, the Ursula Von der Leyen Commission signed contracts with several pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Moderna, and Astra Zeneca, to purchase COVID-19 vaccine doses.

In January 2021, five Green MEPs – Margrete Auken, Tilly Metz, Jutta Paulus, Kim van Sparrentak and the late Michèle Rivasi – asked the Commission for access to these contracts, in the name of the public interest.

However, the Commission published the contracts in a redacted version. As a response, the MEPs decided to take their case to the Luxembourg-based court.

On Wednesday, the court announced its findings. “The Commission did not give the public wide enough access to the contracts for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines”, the ECJ said in a press release.

The court pointed out the “partial” refusal to disclose the declarations of absence of conflict of interest between the teams negotiating with the pharmaceutical companies.

“It was only by having the names, surnames and details of the professional or institutional role of the members of the team in question that they could have ascertained whether or not the members of that team had a conflict of interests” the press release reads.

French MEP Manon Aubry (LFI, The Left) critised the “lack of transparency” of the Commission in a press briefing at the plenary in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

“In its ruling today, the ECJ acknowledged the importance of proper justifications with regard to any claims on undermining commercial confidence”, Metz told Euractiv.

In 2020, €2.7 billion was spent to secure around one billion doses of vaccine for EU citizens, according to the Court.

“This ruling is significant for the future, as the EU Commission is expected to undertake more joint procurements in areas like health and potentially defence”, Metz added.

Ahead of a crucial tomorrow vote on reelecting Von der Leyen as the head of the Commission, Metz added that “the new European Commission will have to adapt their handling of access to documents requests to be in line with today’s ruling”.

At the same time, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is investigating the Pfizergate scandal where von der Leyen is suspected of having negotiated a contract for a billion doses of Covid vaccines directly by SMS with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, according to the New-York Times.

[Edited by Alice Taylor]

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