Agius Saliba takes aim at Von der Leyen over Pfizer vaccine text messages

Findings from the European Ombudsman have raised alarm bells about the purchasing and distribution of vaccines under the Commission’s emergency public procurement procedure in 2020.

The report by Emily O’Reilly proved MEPs were right to be worried about the levels of transparency when it came to the Commission’s handling of COVID-19 vaccines.

A debate on the activities of the Ombudsman took place on Monday evening, with Alex Agius Saliba, vice-president of the S&D Group and S&D negotiator on the activities of the Ombudsman, saying MEPs were concerned about the lack of transparency from the Commission during the COVID-19 crisis.

“This report highlights the opaque procedures in place in 2020 on the buying and distributing of vaccines in the EU. The European Ombudsman’s recent findings over undisclosed private messages between the Commission President and the Pfizer CEO show our concerns are not misplaced.

“Von der Leyen must lead by example and come clean about her hidden text messages. This is the only way to live up to her promise that under her watch the Commission would be beyond reproach on ethics, transparency and integrity.”

Agius Saliba said the S&D Group was fighting to make sure the EU’s response during the crisis gets the full scrutiny in the European Parliament that it needs. “Citizens deserve much better and expect complete transparency from our institutions. This report underlines the crucial role the European Ombudsman plays in making the EU more accountable and Emily O’Reilly has our continued support in her commitment to full transparency.”

The Ombudsman’s report was upheld by the European Parliament and adopted with 385 votes in favour, 217 against and 88 abstaining.

EPP MEPs voted against the report in the committee vote. “Clearly they do not share that same commitment,” Agius Saliba said.

In January 2022, the Ombudsman criticised the Commission’s handling of a request for public access to text messages between its President and the CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla.

The Ombudsman has requested a more extensive search for the relevant messages. The Ombudsman found the Commission’s narrow approach in answering a journalist’s request for access to the messages to amount to maladministration.

O’Reilly found that the Commission had not asked Von der Leyen's office to look for text messages, despite a journalist having categorically requested them. Instead the Commission had asked for items that meet the Commission’s criteria for recording “documents” – a definition that does not include text messages.

O’Reilly described these proceedings damningly as “maladministration” on part of the Commission. “The narrow way in which this public access request was treated meant that no attempt was made to identify if any text messages existed. This falls short of reasonable expectations of transparency and administrative standards in the Commission,” O’Reilly said.