Romania appeals Brussels Court decision blocking ROMATSA funds over Pfizer dispute

Romania’s Ministry of Finance has filed an appeal against the decision of the Brussels Court of First Instance by which Eurocontrol blocked the payment of amounts owed to the Romanian Air Traffic Services Administration (ROMATSA), as part of the enforcement proceedings requested by Pfizer against the Romanian state.

The Ministry of Finance's appeal will be examined on the same day as the one filed by ROMATSA, on July 28, but government sources said that it will be an administrative hearing, with the substantive hearing most likely expected in August. Both the Ministry of Finance and ROMATSA have hired separate legal teams, both specializing in Belgian law.

"Both ROMATSA and the Ministry of Finance have filed appeals. In Belgium, as in Romania, the courts are on holiday, but a hearing has been scheduled for July 28. We will see whether the case is discussed or not; at the moment it is not known," Mihai Diaconu, state secretary at the Ministry of Finance, told News.ro.

The Romanian Air Traffic Services Administration was notified by Eurocontrol on June 30, 2026, regarding the imposition of a precautionary enforcement garnishment measure, as part of enforcement proceedings initiated by Pfizer Romania against the Romanian state. The claimed amount is RON 3.42 billion, representing principal and interest, to which recovery costs of EUR 18.5 million are added.

Both the ROMATSA and the Ministry of Finance appeals seek the lifting of the garnishment imposed on the amounts managed through Eurocontrol.

According to the notification sent by Eurocontrol, the European organization is implementing its obligations as a garnishee third party and is temporarily freezing the amounts it collects for the en-route air navigation services provided by ROMATSA. Based on this notification, Eurocontrol is required to declare the amounts it holds or owes to the Romanian state and to temporarily freeze them, without being able to make payments to anyone other than the party requesting the garnishment until the dispute is resolved.

As early as July 10, ROMATSA warned that the situation could quickly affect the operation of the administration. Route charges collected through Eurocontrol represent the administration's main source of income (85% of total revenue), and the operating horizon based on its own resources is limited, measurable in weeks, not even months.

Frozen funds

The current situation is the third time that funds intended for ROMATSA have been affected through the collection mechanism managed by Eurocontrol, following the cases generated by the disputes between brothers Viorel and Ioan Micula and the Romanian state in 2015 and 2019.

At the beginning of April, a Belgian court ordered Poland and Romania to take delivery of a COVID-19 vaccine shipment with a combined value of EUR 1.9 billion produced by the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer. According to the court statement, Romania has to pay approximately EUR 600 million of the total sum, about 0.2% of its GDP. The sum poses a significant burden at a time when the government is attempting to reduce the fiscal deficit. In addition to the principal amount, interest charges continue to accumulate at a rate of approximately EUR 81,000 per day, equivalent to nearly EUR 2.5 million per month. 

Romania’s Supreme Council of National Defence (CSAT) warned that a possible suspension of ROMATSA's activity would represent a major vulnerability for national security, affecting the surveillance of Romanian airspace and NATO missions on the eastern flank.

In this context, defence minister Radu Miruță said that authorities are also examining the possibility that responsibility for airspace control could, if necessary, be taken over by the structures of the Ministry of Defence.

radu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: ROMATSA on Facebook) ...