The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled today that the European Commission did not give the public “sufficiently wide access” to Covid-19 vaccine contracts, finding irregularities in its justification for redacting parts of the documents.
The much-awaited ruling comes just a day ahead of a decisive vote for Ursula von der Leyen, who needs to secure the support of 361 MEPs on Thursday to be reconfirmed head of the executive body.
The case was brought forward by a group of MEPs from the Greens, who filed requests to get access to vaccine contracts and certain related documents to understand the agreement between the Commission and Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers in 2021.
The Commission only agreed to give partial access to certain contracts, arguing that some sections had been redacted to protect commercial interests or for privacy matters. The MEPs then took the Commission to court over the refusal.
On Wednesday, the EU’s top administrative court ruled that the Commission’s decision to redact sections of the agreements contains “irregularities.” It found that the Commission “did not demonstrate that wider access to those clauses would actually undermine the commercial interests of those undertakings.”