Overview

• The EU Court annulled the European Commission's refusal to release text messages exchanged between Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla during COVID-19 vaccine negotiations.
• The contested messages, exchanged between January 2021 and May 2022, relate to a €35 billion deal for up to 1.8 billion vaccine doses.
• The Commission argued the messages were not archived and therefore not retrievable, a claim the court deemed implausible.
• The ruling is not final, as both the European Commission and the New York Times, which initiated the case, may appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
• This decision raises broader questions about the classification of SMS as official documents under EU transparency rules and the accountability of EU institutions.