The European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, concluded her investigation, on Thursday 14 July, and confirmed her finding of “maladministration” in relation to text messages exchanged by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with the CEO of Pfizer over the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines.
According to the European Ombudsman, this case is a “wake-up call for all EU institutions about ensuring accountability in an era of instant messaging”.
“One year after the initial request by a journalist, the Commission has still not clarified whether messages reported to concern major vaccine procurement deals exist and whether the public is entitled to see them”, says the European Ombudsman’s services (see EUROPE 12982/34).
The Commission’s recent response failed to say whether it had looked directly and correctly for the text messages and if not, why not. “While the response recognised that work-related text messages can be EU documents, it reiterated that the Commission’s internal policy is, in effect, not to register text messages”, according to a statement.
“The handling of this access to documents request leaves the regrettable impression of an EU institution that is not forthcoming on matters of significant public interest”, says Ms O’Reilly.
Link to her recommendations: https://aeur.eu/f/2mx (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)