BRUSSELS, June 11 (Reuters) - An adviser to Europe’s top court on Thursday recommended it to dismiss an appeal lodged by the European Commission against a 2024 ruling forcing the disclosure of information on COVID-19 vaccine contracts.
“The General Court was correct in holding that the transparency of the process of negotiating agreements for Covid-19 vaccines constitutes a specific purpose in the public interest within the meaning of EU law,” Advocate General Athanasios Rantos said, according to a court document released on Thursday.
The Commission negotiated multi-billion vaccine contracts with drug makers such as Pfizer and BioNTech on behalf of the 27-nation bloc during the pandemic.
Rantos recommended upholding the ruling that annulled the Commission’s decision to redact the names of the members of a negotiation team and some contractual clauses of the contract arguing protection of privacy of individuals and protection of commercial interests of the companies.
In both cases, the Commission’s attitude does not allow accountability, Rantos, whose opinion is not binding, added.
The Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The recommendation is a setback for the Commission and its President Ursula von der Leyen, who was already at the helm of the institution during the COVID crisis. The issue was used against her as evidence the EU’s executive body under her leadership lacks transparency.
In a separate case, the court ruled in 2025 that the Commission had to disclose text messages between von der Leyen and the CEO of Pfizer exchanged during the negotiations for the COVID vaccines.
The Commission did not provide credible reason for rejecting a New York Times request to hand over the texts, which von der Leyen said she no longer has. The Commission did not appeal that ruling.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro; Editing by Bart Meijer)
