The European Commission was wrong to withhold information about Covid-19 vaccine procurement contracts during the pandemic, an advocate general of the EU's highest court said on Thursday, ahead of a final ruling in a transparency case against the Brussels-based authority.
During the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021, a team of commission officials and EU experts negotiated contracts with pharmaceutical companies on behalf of EU members states, and finalized the purchase of vaccines.
According to a statement from the European Court of Justice (ECJ), €2.7 billion ($3.1 billion) was released to place a binding order for over 1 billion vaccines doses.
In 2021, EU lawmakers and members of the public requested access to the contracts. The commission complied, but provided only partial access, redacting the names of members of the negotiating team and certain contractual clauses regarding compensation for the pharmaceutical companies - allegedly to protect privacy and commercial interests.
The lawmakers and private individuals challenged the commission's decision before the General Court of the European Union, the bloc's second-highest court, which ruled in their favour in 2024.
However, the commission appealed to the ECJ. In his legal opinion, Advocate General Athanasios Rantos has now proposed that the ECJ upholds the lower court's ruling.
In his statement, Rantos pointed to a particular public interest in ensuring transparency regarding the negotiations of the contracts.
He said simply disclosing anonymized declarations regarding potential conflicts of interest on the part of the negotiators is not sufficient to effectively verify their impartiality.
Regarding the redaction of the compensation clauses, the advocate general said he considers the commission's argument that disclosure would harm the companies' business interests to be insufficiently substantiated.
Opinions by advocates general are not binding, but are often followed by ECJ judges. A decision in the case is expected in the coming months.
The EU's executive body has repeatedly faced accusations of a lack of transparency regarding Covid-19 vaccines.
In a separate, widely publicized case, the General Court ruled in 2025 that the commission was wrong to withhold text messages exchanged between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer chief Albert Bourla.
The ruling triggered an unsuccessful motion of censure against von der Leyen at the European Parliament.
