The pharmaceutical company Pfizer has begun the forced execution of the Romanian Government for the sum of over 650 million euros. At the company’s request, the accounts of the Autonomous Administration Romatsa, the operator of air traffic services in Romania, have been blocked, reports IPN.

The forced execution procedure was initiated for the total equivalent sum of 3.4 billion Romanian lei, equivalent to over 650 million euros, to which are added recovery costs worth over 18.5 million euros. The dispute arose after Romania lost the lawsuit filed by Pfizer regarding the honoring of overdue payments from the COVID-19 vaccine supply contract. The Romanian state initially ordered several tens of millions of doses, then, after the end of the pandemic, refused to receive the remaining quantity and, implicitly, payment for them.

Pfizer has won the lawsuit filed at the Brussels Court, whose decision can be appealed, but is enforceable. Thus, Pfizer has approached the European organization Eurocontrol, which deals with pan-European air navigation and the collection and transfer of overflight fees. And Eurocontrol has informed Romatsa that it will implement the seizure on the bank accounts into which these fees are transferred to Romania.

Romatsa clarifies that it is not a party to this dispute, the procedure being directed exclusively against the Romanian state. Moreover, the institution emphasized that although its accounts are blocked, the air navigation services are carried out under normal conditions, without the safety or quality of traffic being affected.