00:00The European Court of Justice ruled against the European Commission on Wednesday in a major transparency case concerning COVID-19 vaccine deals.
00:08Judges found the Commission failed to plausibly explain why it doesn't possess text messages between President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla.
00:18The New York Times brought the case to obtain access to messages about the procurement of billions of euros worth of vaccines.
00:25The court stated that if such documents cannot be located, the Commission must provide credible reasons and not just claim they are missing.
00:38Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine was the first authorized in the EU in December 2020, leading to huge contracts in 2021.
00:46The New York Times learned of the messages in 2021, but the Commission could not provide them, leading to the January 2023 court case.
00:56Reacting to Wednesday's ruling, the Commission said it will study the decision and issue a new and more detailed explanation.
01:04It reiterated its commitment to transparency, though an official cited the difficulty of registering all informal messages.
01:12The court found that the Commission had not clarified whether the texts were deleted, how or why, and did not detail its search efforts.
01:21The newspaper had argued that the texts qualify as documents under EU access rules and should be made available.
01:29The Commission now has two months to appeal the ruling in a significant case on EU transparency.
01:35Pfizer and its CEO did not immediately react to the court's ruling.
01:38Pfizer and Pfizer and Pfizer.
01:41Pfizer and Pfizer's
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