EU chief asked to hand over text messages to Pfizer CEO

Commission rebuffed a freedom of information request last year for messages with Albert Bourla

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has come under fire over a text messaging row. AFP

An official EU watchdog on Friday condemned European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen for keeping text messages with Pfizer's chief executive about purchasing Covid-19 vaccine doses secret, and said it "constituted maladministration".

The EU ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, issued a formal recommendation telling Ms von der Leyen's office to search for and hand over the texts under a freedom of information request lodged by a journalist.

The commission spearheaded the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines for all 27 EU countries.

More than half of the 4.2 billion doses the commission has bought or booked are sourced from BioNTech-Pfizer, making it by far the biggest supplier to the bloc's inoculation efforts.

The commission refuses to divulge important aspects of its contracts with Covid-19 vaccine suppliers, notably on pricing, citing commercial confidentiality.

Ms Von der Leyen's active public role in ensuring vaccine access included one-on-one conversations with Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla, a Greek-American citizen.

Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla addresses a press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after a visit to oversee the production of the Pfizer-BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine at a factory in Puurs, Belgium. Reuters

Her commission rebuffed a freedom of information request last year for the messages and refused to say whether the texts existed, even though Ms von der Leyen had herself referred to them in a media interview.

It told the ombudsman's service that it was obligated to hand over only archived documents and that text messages or other forms of instant messages did not qualify, being "short-lived" and unlikely to "contain in principle important information" on its policies, activities or decisions.

The ombudsman strongly disagreed and said in her recommendation "it is clear that text messages fall within the scope of the EU's law on public access to documents" and that EU case-law upholds the duty by EU institutions to retain documentation related to its activities".

"The case concerns whether, if the messages concern the commission's work and if it holds them, the commission should have granted public access to them. How the commission dealt with this matter did not allow those questions to be answered. The ombudsman considers that this constituted maladministration," it said.

The ombudsman said the commission should ask Ms von der Leyen's office to look again for the texts and if it found them, "the Commission should assess whether public access can be granted to them" in line with EU rules.