Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, in Brussels, December 10, 2020 (illustration) -
John Thys / AP / SIPA
While government organizations or scientists already deplore the opacity of negotiations between the European Union and pharmaceutical laboratories on anti-Covid-19 vaccines, Marine Le Pen in turn deplored this lack of transparency.
“No one has access to contracts […].
They will draw lots for MEPs, who will have the right to go and look at these negotiation contracts, without a telephone, without the possibility of photographing them, without a pen to be able to take notes, ”said the president of the National Rally on France. Inter this Thursday, December 10.
If no drawing lots is planned, some MEPs do have the right to consult these documents according to fairly strict rules, detailed in
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by the European institutions.
“We are building one of the most comprehensive Covid-19 vaccine portfolios in the world.
"If the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, thus welcomed, at the end of November, to have concluded six European pre-purchase contracts with different pharmaceutical companies for anti-Covid vaccines, several voices are raised. to denounce the lack of transparency of the European institutions on the exact content of these trade agreements.
The non-governmental organization (NGO) Corporate Europe Observatory, which closely observes the influence of lobbies at European level, has been seeking, for example, for several weeks to learn about several information contained in these public interest contracts for the 448 million citizens of the European Union.
Marine Le Pen @MLP_officiel: "Nobody has access to the negotiation contracts" on vaccines;
"How do you want there to be a climate of confidence with regard to this vaccination?"
# le79Inter pic.twitter.com/zdP9hbS1GX
- France Inter (@franceinter) December 10, 2020
And this lack of transparency of European institutions was invited into the French political debate this morning, during an interview granted by Marine Le Pen to France Inter.
In response to a question on vaccination against Covid-19, the president of the RN was indignant at the “opacity” of the negotiations conducted by the European Commission: “No one has access to negotiation contracts.
Why ?
They are coming to explain that they will draw lots for MEPs, who will have the right to go and look at these negotiation contracts, without a telephone, without the possibility of photographing them, without a pen to be able to take notes.
"
"But what does that mean?
How do you expect there to be a climate of confidence among the peoples of Europe with regard to this vaccination if we act with such incredible opacity?
», She concluded.
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Contacted by
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on this subject, Marine Le Pen's press officer tells us: “This concerns negotiation contracts.
It had already been done for Tafta ”, the transatlantic free trade treaty negotiated in 2016 between the European Union and the United States.
At the time, the documents at the heart of the exchange had indeed been the subject of a consultation by certain MEPs, as the Corporate Europe Observatory confirms: “The MEPs from certain committees went to a meeting room. reading during the Tafta negotiations.
"
On the other hand, the elected officials in question are by no means chosen randomly, contrary to what Marine Le Pen asserts.
Reached by
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, the European Parliament explains: “The selection of deputies who can consult the documents under negotiation does not work by drawing lots: the European deputies of the parliamentary committees competent on this subject will have access to the reading room.
"
"Taking images is prohibited"
However, access to the latter is done under strict conditions, which have "nothing specific to vaccine contracts" but fall under the "structural procedure": "The taking of images or notes remains prohibited [ in the reading room] because they are confidential documents, "confirms the European Commission, also recalling that at the time of the Tafta," MEPs from the parliamentary committee on international trade had access to confidential documents because they were empowered to judge whether these documents were going in the right direction.
"
In June 2016, a report from the news site Reporterre, entitled "The incredible precautions to hide the Tafta treaty from the elected representatives of the people", offered an overview of this very framed device during the passage of the deputy Noël Mamère in one of these famous reading rooms - as can be seen in the video below.
In addition to revealing on this occasion the methods of consultation of these documents, Reporterre had gathered the reaction of Noël Mamère when he left the room: “I had the feeling of entering a prison.
You feel like an intruder when you get there.
You are tolerated, as long as you obey the rules.
But you are not accepted.
"
"It is very difficult for the deputies to report what they saw"
The NGO Corporate Europe Observatory is today the first to deplore the “flaws” of this reading room: “The Commission allowed MEPs to access it a few years ago with regard to glyphosate.
But as they are not allowed to take notes or photos, faced with such voluminous and technical documents, it is very difficult for them to report what they have seen to people who could judge the relevance of these contracts. .
This system does not allow MEPs, and even at least the public, to ensure that the Commission is accountable to them, although that is their role ... "
Faced with multiple requests for consultation of these documents formulated by the NGO, does the European Commission plan to reveal the content of these contracts with pharmaceutical laboratories?
Contacted by
20 Minutes
, the institution tells us "to hear and understand the demand for transparency of parliamentarians and the public on these contracts" but not to be able "to make these contracts public unilaterally because they have confidentiality clauses.
"
“We are still in negotiations with several pharmaceutical companies for pre-purchase contracts for anti-Covid 19 vaccines: we cannot continue such negotiations by publicly revealing similar contracts already signed.
This would amount to putting ourselves in an extremely difficult negotiating position since we would show the interlocutors with whom we negotiate how much we paid for such and such other vaccine, what delivery conditions we have concluded with such other, etc.
", She explains, stressing that" secrecy about these negotiations "is necessary" in order to negotiate the best terms for European citizens ".
"In addition, the companies with which we negotiate want negotiations and contracts to remain secret because for them, in these contracts, there are a lot of critical commercial elements vis-à-vis their pricing strategy, development and vaccine production ”, adds the Commission, while acknowledging that it is considering“ rather, for the moment, to give access to contracts to European parliamentarians within the framework of specific arrangements ”, such as the reading room set up on other topics in the past.
"The Commission will have to account for the proper use of this budget"
The European Parliament also confirms that “the MEPs belonging to the ENVI parliamentary committee - responsible for questions relating to the environment, public health and consumer protection - and the elected members of the BUDg committee - on budgetary matters - have asked the Commission to have access to these documents ”.
For its part, Corporate Europe Observatory hopes to obtain a favorable response from the Commission to its two current requests for information on these contracts.
The NGO asks in particular, failing to publish all of these documents, to reveal the parts that do not fall under "real trade secrets" - a common practice in response to this type of request, according to Corporate Europe Observatory.
"In particular, we ask that five essential pieces of information be made public: the cost structure and the price of each vaccine, the location of their production centers, intellectual property agreements, liability and compensation agreements and agreements relating to access to vaccines, ”explains the NGO.
The European Commission, for its part, finally underlines to
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that “transparency on scientific data and information on vaccines will be complete and ensured by the European Medicines Agency.
"And to conclude with a reminder:" These pre-purchases of vaccines are made with the European budget.
The Commission will therefore have to report, once the signature has been finalized, on the proper use of this budget to the citizens and the European institutions, such as the European Parliament or the European Court of Auditors, which may audit the action of the Commission. .
"
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