The European Commission is being sued over its refusal to release text messages between its president and the boss of Pfizer, which manufactured a coronavirus vaccine. Ursula von der Leyen and Albert Bourla exchanged personal messages, which the commission suggests may have been deleted, at the height of the pandemic. Lawyers for The New York Times will argue in the EU’s top court that the failure to disclose the smartphone communications, dubbed “Deletegate”, breaks European transparency laws. The newspaper lodged the case on Jan 25 and it was published by the European Court of Justice’s register on Monday. Emily O’Reilly, the ombudsman, launched the inquiry after a request for the messages lodged by journalist Alexander Fanta.

Source: The Times February 15, 2023 02:29 UTC