2024-07-18 03:04:28
The European Commission failed to demonstrate how the details of the compensation would have harmed the commercial interests of the pharmaceutical groups that supplied the vaccines, the EU’s General Court ruled. It also failed the “public interest” test by withholding the names of the EU officials involved.
The decision is a victory for EU lawmakers and individuals who requested information about the 2020-2021 budget. after negotiating 2.7 billion EUR transactions to buy vaccines against coronavirus.
The European Commission, led by President Ursula von der Leyen, has only released redacted versions of the signed agreements. The European Commission is also alleged to have covered up and deleted text messages of correspondence with a Pfizer executive regarding vaccine purchases. The commission argued that publishing the data would damage commercial relationships with pharmaceutical companies, particularly in terms of liability and compensation for vaccine defects. The commission also argued that the privacy of the identities and words of its team members who negotiated the deals must be protected.
However, the EU court “partially” satisfied the lawsuits filed by individuals who want to gain access to this information in detail, “and annulled the decisions of the European Commission that contain violations.”
The court report said that the European Commission had not demonstrated that wider publicity would harm the commercial interests of the participants in the transactions. For their part, the plaintiffs have shown that the public interest requires disclosure of the personal details of the team that negotiated the vaccines, as this is the only way to determine whether they suffered a conflict of interest, the court said.
In order to challenge the decision of the EU General Court, the European Commission can file an appeal with the European Court of Justice until the end of September.
2024-07-18 03:04:28