The EU Court criticizes lack of transparency in vaccine purchase agreements
The court granted parts of the claims of several EU-MPs as well as citizens. With the contracts in question, over a billion doses of vaccines were ordered from various pharmaceutical companies for a total of 2.7 billion Euros in the first years of the pandemic. In 2021, the plaintiffs requested access to these contracts and other related documents. However, the Commission only made available a redacted version.
Therefore, five current and former members of the Greens/EFA faction, as well as two French lawyers, filed a lawsuit on behalf of numerous citizens. The court has now declared the Commission's decisions, which denied complete access to the documents, partially invalid - they contained errors.
The reason for the agreed compensation rules - namely the high risk for the companies - was already publicly known. The Commission could not explain why the commercial interests of the companies would be affected if more of these clauses were made public.
The Commission invoked the protection of privacy to partially deny access to the statements of the negotiation team regarding non-existent conflict of interest. However, the plaintiffs had shown that there was a public interest in disclosure, the court stated. Only if the name, profession, or office was known could it be checked whether there was no conflict of interest.
The judgment of the EU Court can still be appealed before the European Court of Justice. Lack of transparency in contracts with vaccine manufacturers has been criticized repeatedly. The European Public Prosecutor's Office is also investigating this matter.
Among the plaintiffs in Luxembourg was the German EU-MP Jutta Paulus (Greens). She spoke of a "victory" and declared that the judgment strengthened "transparency and control, also for the future".
The Commission announced that it would examine the judgment and its consequences carefully. The court had only granted the claim in part, emphasized the Commission. It had confirmed that it had to grant only partial access. The Commission reserved legal options.
- The European Union (EU) MPs and several citizens claimed access to over a billion vaccine doses purchase agreements with various pharmaceutical companies, worth 2.7 billion Euros, citing the need for transparency.
- The European Commission only provided a redacted version of these agreements, leading to a lawsuit from five EU-MPs and two French lawyers representing numerous citizens.
- The Court of the European Union declared parts of the European Commission's decisions regarding the vaccine purchase agreements partially invalid, finding errors in their denial of full access.
- Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, representing the CDU party, could not provide a compelling reason to keep the commercial interests of pharmaceutical companies private, further justifying the injustice of the situation.
- The European Court of Justice has the option to appeal the decision, as the plaintiffs are still seeking complete transparency in the vaccine purchase agreements and other related documents.
- Jutta Paulus, a German EU-MP and a plaintiff in Luxembourg, celebrated the victory, stating that the judgment strengthened transparency and control, potentially benefiting future negotiations.
- The European Commission announced it would carefully examine the judgment's consequences and Reserve legal options, acknowledging that the court had granted partial access, but not complete disclosure, to the vaccine purchase agreements.
