European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is once again under intense scrutiny-this time facing the prospect of a no-confidence vote brought by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who accuse her of undermining transparency and democratic norms. The controversy centers around her involvement in negotiating a multi-billion-dollar COVID-19 vaccine deal with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, a deal that critics say was conducted in secrecy and possibly in breach of institutional transparency rules.

The growing calls for accountability reached a boiling point after the European Union’s Court of Justice ruled in May that the Commission had acted improperly by denying a request to release text messages exchanged between von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla. These messages reportedly played a central role in brokering the EU’s largest vaccine procurement contract during the height of the pandemic. Von der Leyen had publicly acknowledged exchanging texts with Bourla in 2021, making the Commission’s claim that it no longer possesses them appear increasingly implausible.

The court flatly rejected the Commission’s argument that the messages were not in its possession and ordered it to provide “credible explanations” for why they were not retained or made accessible. Transparency advocates argue that such messages, particularly those involving multi-billion-euro decisions affecting public health and state finances, must be preserved as official records.

In response, the Commission has promised to present a more detailed rationale for its refusal but has notably stopped short of........

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