Five MEPs from the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament - Margrete Auken from Denmark, Tilly Metz from Luxembourg, Jutta Paulus from Germany, Michèle Rivasi from France and Kim van Sparrentak from the Netherlands - have filed a case with the Court of Justice of the European Union seeking full access to the European Commission’s contracts with pharmaceutical companies for the advance purchase of vaccines against Covid-19.
Asked about this legal action, Commission spokesperson Stefaan De Keersmaecker said on Friday 22 April that the EU institution had taken note of the proceedings. He affirmed the Commission’s commitment to transparency regarding advance purchase contracts for vaccines. For this reason the contracts have been made available online.
However, some elements of the contracts have not been made public, as the EU institution is bound by confidentiality clauses in the contracts.
Mr De Keersmaecker stressed that the institution was in regular contact with the European Parliament on the issue of vaccine contracts, notably through the work of the European Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, and that Member States were involved in the negotiation teams for advance purchase group contracts. (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)