BRUSSELS, May 14 (Reuters) - Europe's second-top court

on Wednesday dismissed the European Commission's rejection of a

New York Times' ( NYT ) request to access text messages between its

President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer ( PFE ) CEO Albert

Bourla on the purchase of billions of euros of COVID-19

vaccines.

The New York Times ( NYT ) said the messages between Jan. 1, 2021

and May 11, 2022 at the height of the pandemic could shed light

on the billion-euro vaccine deals.

The Commission had turned down its request, saying von der

Leyen had not kept the messages. That prompted the newspaper's

lawsuit against the EU executive.

The case is T-36/23 - Stevi and The New York Times ( NYT ) v

Commission.