Pfizergate: EU Court Rules Commission in Violation of Transparency Law Over von der Leyen–Pfizer Texts
Rachel Hanna2025-05-14T16:43:34+02:0014 May 2025 – The General Court of the European Union has annulled the European Commission decision to refuse access to text messages relating to COVID-19 vaccine negotiations, stating that doing so violated EU access to documents law and breached the principle of good administration. In early 2021, it was revealed that President von der Leyen had exchanged text messages with Pfizer CEO during negotiations for COVID-19 vaccine procurement. Following this, a journalist from The New York Times submitted a request for access to these messages under the EU's access to documents law (Regulation 1049/2001). According to the Commission's