Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said on Wednesday that the Ministers of Health and Finance will travel to the United States next week to begin negotiations with Pfizer, following the court ruling against Romania in the case concerning the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines. He added that Romania will also request support from the European Commission.
Bolojan said a solution must be found either for paying the owed amount in instalments or for compensating it through medicines.
"We are in a situation where the Health minister and the Finance minister are preparing to start negotiations with Pfizer and will travel to the United States next week. In about two weeks we will receive the court's reasoning. From that moment, there is a two-month period, and it would be good to find a formula to stop late-payment penalties during negotiations and to identify a solution while we clarify whether an appeal is possible - in consultation with the law firm and with Poland, which is in the same situation," the prime minister said.
He added that Romania will seek the European Commission's support in these talks.
"We are looking for solutions so that this amount is either paid in instalments or converted into other deliverables needed by Romania's health system, since part of the medicines on the Romanian market are produced by this company. After the discussions the two ministers will have next week, they will announce the results and the next steps, depending on the outcome of these first negotiations," Bolojan said.
A Brussels court has ordered, in a first-instance ruling, that Poland and Romania must pay outstanding balances for COVID-19 vaccines ordered from Pfizer/BioNTech: 1.3 billion for Poland and 600 million for Romania.
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