EU court orders Poland and Romania to honor multibillion-Euro Covid vaccine contracts |
A Belgian court has ruled that Poland and Romania must proceed with the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines worth approximately €1.9 billion ($2.2 billion), despite both countries arguing that the doses are no longer needed. The decision marks a significant legal development in the ongoing fallout from pandemic-era procurement agreements negotiated by the European Commission under the leadership of Ursula von der Leyen.
The ruling, issued by a court in Brussels, stems from contracts signed during the height of the global Covid-19 crisis in 2020 and 2021. At the time, the European Union centralized vaccine procurement in an effort to ensure equitable access for member states, many of which were struggling to contain rapidly rising infection rates. The bloc entered into large-scale agreements with pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer and BioNTech.
Under the court’s decision, Poland is required to purchase vaccines worth €1.3 billion, while Romania must acquire doses valued at €600 million. Both governments had previously refused to fulfill these contractual obligations, citing a drastically improved public health situation and concerns over excess supply.
Poland first signaled its resistance in 2022, arguing that the epidemiological landscape had shifted significantly since the contracts were signed. Officials in Warsaw claimed that continuing to accept large quantities of vaccines would lead to waste and impose an unnecessary financial burden. Romania soon adopted a similar stance, emphasizing that the........