Poland has appealed a Belgian court ruling requiring it to accept and pay for millions of Covid-19 vaccine doses rejected under a European Union procurement agreement negotiated during the pandemic. The legal dispute, which centres on contracts signed between the European Commission and Pfizer-BioNTech, has renewed attention on the bloc’s controversial vaccine purchasing programme and the political scrutiny surrounding European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s handling of the negotiations.
Poland has formally appealed a Belgian court ruling ordering the country to accept and pay for millions of Covid-19 vaccine doses that it declined to receive under a European Union joint procurement agreement concluded during the pandemic.
The appeal follows a judgment issued by a court in Brussels in April requiring Warsaw to accept approximately 64 million Covid-19 vaccine doses and pay around €1.3 billion (US$1.5 billion), in addition to interest and legal costs. The case stems from multibillion-euro vaccine contracts negotiated by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The agreements later became the focus of the so-called “Pfizergate” controversy, which centred on scrutiny of the European Commission’s negotiations with vaccine manufacturers.
In a statement issued on Monday, Poland’s Health Ministry confirmed that the government had appealed the ruling and requested that its enforcement be suspended while the case is reviewed. The ministry argued that the lower court had failed to consider all the “relevant factual and legal circumstances” surrounding the dispute, although it did not provide additional details regarding the grounds for the appeal.
The legal proceedings originated after Pfizer filed a lawsuit against Poland in 2023 when Warsaw stopped accepting further vaccine deliveries. Poland argued that sharply declining demand for Covid-19 vaccines, a significant oversupply of doses and the economic consequences of the conflict in Ukraine constituted force majeure, making continued fulfilment of the contract unreasonable.
The Brussels court rejected that position, ruling in favour of Pfizer and requiring Poland to honour its contractual obligations under the agreement.
Responding to the ruling, Pfizer defended the court’s decision, telling Politico that it reflected “the importance of the contractual obligations that underpinned a successful European pandemic response”. The company also stated that it had demonstrated “significant flexibility” towards European Union member states before deciding to pursue legal action to enforce the contracts.
The dispute has once again drawn attention to the European Commission’s handling of vaccine procurement during the pandemic. Von der Leyen has faced sustained criticism from political opponents over her role in negotiating contracts with Pfizer and AstraZeneca, particularly regarding the transparency of those negotiations.
She has come under particular scrutiny over her refusal to disclose or preserve text messages reportedly exchanged with Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla during discussions leading to the vaccine agreements. Critics have argued that the communications should have been retained and made available as part of the public record.
The controversy surrounding the negotiations intensified last year when von der Leyen faced a motion of no confidence in the European Parliament linked to her handling of the vaccine procurement process. She ultimately survived the vote and remained in office.
Poland’s appeal means the legal dispute over one of the European Union’s largest Covid-19 vaccine procurement agreements is set to continue, with the government seeking to overturn the Belgian court’s ruling while suspending its enforcement pending a final judicial review. The outcome could have significant implications for the enforcement of pandemic-era procurement contracts concluded between the European Commission and pharmaceutical manufacturers.
