Romania to challenge Pfizer's freezing of ROMATSA accounts in Belgian court, PM Bolojan confirms negotiations will continue
The Romanian government will file a legal challenge next week after EUROCONTROL froze ROMATSA's route-charge revenues at Pfizer's request, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said on Thursday, while negotiations over the 600-million-euro COVID vaccine debt continue.
The account seizure
On 30 June 2026, EUROCONTROL notified ROMATSA, Romania's state air traffic services provider, that it had imposed a precautionary-enforcement seizure on its route navigation charges at the request of Pfizer. The move is part of an enforcement proceeding launched by the pharmaceutical giant against the Romanian state after it won a lawsuit over unpaid COVID-19 vaccine contracts. The total amount claimed is approximately 600 million euros, equivalent to roughly 3.4 billion lei, plus recovery costs exceeding 18.5 million euros.
- Pfizer court award
- 600000000 EUR
- Annual ROMATSA route charges
- 300000000 EUR
- Recovery costs
- 18500000 EUR
Pfizer engaged a law firm and a bailiff in Belgium to trigger the enforcement, which also targets Poland over a similar dispute. The sums seized are those EUROCONTROL collects on behalf of ROMATSA from airlines for en-route air navigation services, an annual flow of about 300 million euros.
Government's dual-track response
Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, speaking after a cabinet meeting on 2 July, said the government will file a contestation against the enforcement procedure in a Belgian court next week. Simultaneously, negotiations with Pfizer will continue through the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health.
ROMATSA, together with the Romanian Government's lawyers, will file a contestation in Belgium next week against this enforcement procedure. On the other hand, we will continue negotiations with Pfizer in order to find a solution.
Bolojan added that under an agreement with Pfizer, authorities cannot comment on the substance of the talks. The goal is to close the litigation in a manner acceptable to both sides and sustainable for the state budget.
ROMATSA not a party to the dispute
ROMATSA stressed that it is not and never was a party to the lawsuit that triggered the enforcement, which is directed exclusively against the Romanian state. The air traffic operator has instructed the Belgian law firm that assisted it in previous similar situations, the Micula cases of 2015 and 2019, to examine legal options, including suspending the measure.
EUROCONTROL has 15 days from notification to declare the sums held or owed to the Romanian state and to freeze them, preventing any payment to anyone other than the seizure applicant until the dispute is resolved. ROMATSA is also in contact with the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Finance and has scheduled a technical meeting with EUROCONTROL.
Air traffic unaffected, PM assures
Despite the account freeze, Bolojan gave assurances that ROMATSA will operate without disruption. "The company will function without problems in the coming period. The supervision and routing of flights over Romanian territory will not be affected," he said. The prime minister stressed that the government is pursuing a solution that both settles the debt and preserves ROMATSA's operational capacity, while avoiding a burden on the state budget that is not sustainable.
