Latest news with #EuropeanOmbudsman
Irish Examiner
14-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Von der Leyen's texts with Pfizer boss can be shared, says EU's highest court
The EU's highest court has cancelled a decision to withhold Ursula von der Leyen's text messages with a pharmaceutical executive during the pandemic, in a significant defeat for the commission president. The European court of justice on Wednesday annulled a decision taken by the European Commission in November 2022 to deny the New York Times access to the messages, after a freedom of information request by the paper. The court said that, in its refusal, the commission did not respect the EU's access to documents law. In a withering assessment it said the commission had 'not given a plausible explanation to justify the non-possession of the requested documents'. It was not immediately clear if the commission, which still has the right to appeal, would release the messages. In a statement that it would 'closely study' the ruling, the EU executive suggested it still intended to block access to the texts, saying it would 'adopt a new decision [on the FoI request] providing a more detailed explanation'. Despite those questions, the decision is a defining moment for von der Leyen, who is a few months into a second five-year term as head of the EU executive. While praised as a crisis manager, von der Leyen has also faced frequent criticism for her top-down management style and been accused of lacking transparency. In January 2023, the New York Times and its then Brussels bureau chief, Matina Stevis-Gridneff, started the case to challenge a commission decision not to release the text messages. The paper had reported the existence of the text messages exchanged between von der Leyen and the Pfizer chief executive, Albert Bourla, in an article that included interviews with both. Von der Leyen's personal diplomacy was said to have unlocked 1.8bn doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine at a moment when the EU was falling behind the UK and Israel in the race to secure jabs. Critics later alleged the commission had overpaid for the vaccines after it emerged that Pfizer had increased its prices to €19.50 a shot, compared with €15.50. Employees work at the Pfizer pharmaceutical company during an official visit of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Puurs, Belgium, Friday, April 23, 2021. (John Thys, Pool via AP) An investigative journalist, Alexander Fanta, asked the commission in May 2021 to release the text messages under the EU's freedom of information rules. After the commission refused, he took the case to the European Ombudsman, who found the commission guilty of maladministration. Von der Leyen's texts, Fanta wrotein the Guardian, might 'help to answer questions such as why the EU became Pfizer's single biggest customer but reportedly paid a much steeper price'. The New York Times applied to see the text messages in May 2022 and went to court to challenge the commission's refusal. The court's negative verdict was not unexpected, as judges had criticised commission lawyers' responses during hearings last year. The commission had claimed the texts were sent only to coordinate meetings, but its lawyers admitted they had not seen the messages and could not say whether they still existed. On Wednesday, the court said the commission had 'not sufficiently clarified' whether the messages had been deleted and, if so, whether that 'was done deliberately or automatically', or whether the president's phone had been replaced in the meantime. Alberto Alemanno, an EU law professor at HEC Paris Business School, said the result would promote greater accountability of EU leaders. 'This judgment provides a fresh reminder that the EU is governed by the rule of law, with its leaders subject to the constant scrutiny of free media and of an independent court.' Transparency International said it was a landmark ruling that 'makes clear that the commission's contradictory approach to transparency cannot stand'. A New York Times spokesperson said: 'Today's decision is a victory for transparency and accountability in the European Union, and it sends a powerful message that ephemeral communications are not beyond the reach of public scrutiny.' - The Guardian Read More Paris rides to top of European rankings of cycling-friendly cities for children
Budapest Times
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Budapest Times
Fidesz MEPs turn to European Ombudsman over financing of NGOs
Csaba Dömötör said Fidesz MEPs would again submit their requests for information. "If we're denied entry through the door, we'll knock again ... but more firmly," he said. Ruling party MEP Csaba Dömötör said on Thursday that Fidesz MEPs are turning to the European Ombudsman concerning the financing of NGOs, adding that the European Commission did not appear ready 'to disclose the list of its agreements with political activists'. According to MTI, Dömötör said it was likely that there were more than 10,000 such contracts. He noted that the Fidesz group filed 86 requests with EC directorates and background institutions to obtain information, adding that the directorates had refused every one. He said the rejections were 'absurd', adding that the EC website provided only partial information concerning the matter. 'In addition … the amounts [quoted on the website] are often nowhere near the sums included in member states' reports,' he added. Dömötör said Fidesz MEPs would again submit their requests for information. 'If we're denied entry through the door, we'll knock again … but more firmly,' he said. The Fidesz group also will turn to the recently elected European Ombudsman, for whom 'nothing should be more important than ensuring transparency, especially when it comes to European taxpayers's money, or supporting liberal policies promoted by these organisations, even if in many cases they are in conflict with the will of European voters,' he said. Dömötör said he had been informed that 'certain MEPs' in the EP's budget control committee had been given the list of 'activist contracts' from some of the directorates, but 'they were asked not to disclose them… They were even instructed that each group should have access to as many contracts as many MEPs they have in the committee… This is totally absurd.' The MEP said, 'parties of the grand coalition are quiet because they are implicated.' He mentioned an MEP, for example, who he said was a supervisory board member of a Bavarian company that received subsidies in the million-euro range from the EC. 'The MEP receives an annual 75,000 euros for that second job, which clearly indicates why groups in the grand coalition are not so active: they have interests,' he added. While Hungary ensures the transparency of contracts, with the documents and contract amounts available on ministries' websites for 14 days, the EC, which 'comes up with even more stringent transparency criteria for member states by way of rule of law procedures, does not disclose even basic information,' he said. The EC has provided support to 'at least 54 organisations of so-called fact-checkers, including left-liberal groups in Hungary', Dömötör said, adding that those groups 'often act as censors'. The European Parliament democracy shield committee refused to answer relevant questions, he said. 'Moreover, at their last session, they even tried to prevent the question from being asked; that says all about their attitude towards transparency,' he said. 'They are not accustomed to applying those democratic values, principles and virtues that they keep demanding from member states and their governments. It is not part of their practice, and this is what we want to change. And we will,' the MEP said.
