European Commission defiant over Von der Leyen’s Pfizer texts

EU executive defends its right not to keep records of president's messages after rebuke from ombudsman

The European Commission has said it cannot and does not need to find text messages that its president, Ursula von der Leyen, exchanged with the boss of Pfizer at the height of the pandemic, fuelling its dispute with the EU's internal watchdog.

The commission's defence of its right not to keep records of Von der Leyen's text messages was published on Wednesday by the EU's official watchdog, the European Ombudsman, which conducted an initial investigation after a complaint about transparency.