10
Mar
2022
Watch
Transparency and administrative standards - the treatment of public access requests based on Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 (debate)
Mr President, Commissioner, let me first say that it may be clear in the middle of this debate that a large majority in Parliament does not follow the Commission's interpretation of the application of transparency, that we are looking at it in a completely different way and that it must be clear that we want to see a change in that. And I want to explain the case that is before us, because it shows very well what this is about. We know – in the pandemic – that there is no competence for the Commission in the area of public health, and yet it has acted. This has received the full support of this House. Had it not acted on vaccine purchases, we would have seen vaccine inequality within the European Union, and that would have been particularly bad. The disadvantage of not having that power is that there has been too little parliamentary control over the negotiation of those contracts. And then – and that makes it even more painful – something happened, in particular that the policy is personified. There were a lot of personal contacts, including with Commission President von der Leyen and the CEO of Pfizer. And I have had a very uncomfortable feeling for a long time, because we may not have had vaccine inequality within the European Union, but we have had immense vaccine inequality in the world. And the Pfizers Europe and the big big pharma, also in the United States, have really been able to hide behind the broad back of the European Commission in the patent debate. I have the uncomfortable feeling that things have been promised there that the outside world should not know. But maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm wrong, and that's why it's so important that all documents, including text messages, are exposed. And you know, a special committee was also approved this week to evaluate what happened during the corona policy: The good things, the less good things. And, I promise you, as a Parliament, we are going to get to the bottom of this story. What was agreed during that negotiation?