EU Prosecutor General Pushes for Greater Transparency on Covid Vaccine Contracts

But von der Leyen's SMS Remain the Legal Black Hole of European Politics.

Athanasios Rantos, Prosecutor General at the European Court of Justice (ECJ), has delivered his opinion in a key case concerning public access to Covid-19 vaccine procurement contracts. He has recommended that the Court uphold the EU General Court’s July 2024 rulings, which sided against the European Commission on transparency issues.

During the pandemic, the Commission negotiated multi-billion-euro contracts on behalf of EU member states with pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer and BioNTech. When MEPs and citizens requested access to the documents, the Commission released heavily redacted versions. It withheld, among other details, the names of the negotiators — information needed to check for potential conflicts of interest — and the pharmaceutical companies’ liability and indemnification clauses, citing privacy and commercial confidentiality.

As the ECJ typically follows the Advocate General’s opinions in most cases, the Commission appears headed for a formal rebuke. Brussels will likely be required to improve transparency and grant better public access to official documents. It may even have to publish less-redacted versions of the contracts to comply with the judgment.