The European Union's General Court said Wednesday that it annulled the European Commission's decision denying The New York Times access to text messages between Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer (PFE) Chief Executive Albert Bourla related to COVID-19 vaccine procurement.
The court said the Commission has not given a "plausible explanation" for its claim that it did not hold the requested documents, while The New York Times provided evidence of the existence of the text messages.
The court said the Commission failed to provide details of the searches that it carried out to find the requested documents and has not clarified whether the messages were deleted or if von der Leyen's mobile phone had been replaced.
The Commission also failed to explain why it considered the text messages did not contain important information, according to the statement.
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