EU ombudsman calls Commission response over texts ‘problematic’

The EU’s inner watchdog has criticised as “problematic” the European Fee’s defence over its refusal to launch textual content messages between President Ursula von der Leyen and the CEO of Pfizer.

The EU Ombudsman had referred to as on the bloc’s govt to share the controversial exchanges concerning the EU’s buy of vaccine contracts.

The textual content change was reported by a New York Instances reporter in April 2021.

The Fee, nevertheless, mentioned in a response launched on Wednesday that “the search undertaken by the president’s cupboard for related textual content messages similar to the request for entry to paperwork has not yielded any outcomes.”

“On account of their short-lived and ephemeral nature, textual content and immediate messages, generally, don’t include necessary info regarding insurance policies, actions and selections of the fee, nor are they within the possession of the establishment,” Fee Vice-President Věra Jourova wrote within the response.

She added that the Fee would “attain out to all the opposite establishments of the Union and suggest that they draw up collectively steering for his or her employees on the usage of trendy communication instruments akin to textual content and occasion messages.”
Greater than half of the 4.2 billion COVID-19 vaccines reserved by the EU had been equipped by the American-German firm Pfizer/BioNTech.

However NGOs and MEPs have expressed concern that key points of the contracts with the laboratories have remained confidential.

Following a request by the New York Instances, the Fee had launched three paperwork, however not textual content messages between von der Leyen and Pfizer boss Albert Bourla.

EU ombudsman Emily O’Reilly referred to as the Fee’s response on Wednesday “problematic” however mentioned {that a} full evaluation can be printed in a few weeks.

In January, she had requested the EU Fee to hold out “a extra thorough search” for the textual content messages.

She criticised the truth that “no try had been made” to take action, saying that such a “method of performing didn’t meet the expectations of transparency” on public entry to EU paperwork.

“Within the context of the Ombudsman’s inquiry, it emerged that the Fee doesn’t contemplate that textual content messages usually fall underneath its inner standards for doc recording, as a result of short-lived nature of their content material,” the assertion learn.

“The Ombudsman considers that this constituted maladministration.”