EU Watchdog Rebukes Commission over Deleted Macron Text

European Ombudsman Teresa Anjinho has rebuked the European Commission for its mishandling of a text message sent by French President Emmanuel Macron to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during negotiations on the EU's trade agreement with Mercosur.

In early 2024, Macron used the message in an attempt to halt negotiations with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The Commission confirmed the message existed but said it had been automatically deleted by the disappearing messages function in the Signal app.

Anjinho recommended that commissioners should in future retain text and instant messages relating to EU policies, actions and decisions, including those subject to automatic deletion.

She also criticized the Commission for taking 15 months to respond to a request for access to the text message, and did not rule out the possibility that the text message had been deleted after the access request was made.

The Commission denied any fault in the keeping of the text message itself but acknowledged an administrative failure in handling the request, and said it would carefully examine the ombudsman's recommendations.

Von der Leyen has previously faced criticism over her handling of text messages, including during the Covid-19 pandemic, when her communications with Pfizer chief Albert Bourla came under scrutiny.

(politico, bak)