The European Commission’s handling of requests for text messages about Covid 19 vaccines between the EU boss and pharma giant Pfizer’s CEO is a “wake up call” for the EU.
That’s according to the EU Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly. She was referring to her inquiry into the Commission’s responses to requests for text messages between Ursula von der Leyen and Albert Bourla. The exchanges took place during the height of the pandemic and they led to a lucrative deal for the much-needed vaccines.
The Ombudsman began an inquiry last year following a request by a journalist to access the texts after the Commission did not give details of them. This week she upheld her finding of maladministration against the Commission for failing to provide access to the text messages.
Emily O’Reilly says work-related text and instant messages should be recognised as EU documents.
Out words: maladministration
Dur: 00:23
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