Gov’t in Bucharest is seeking counsel to defend it in the Pfizer lawsuit

On Thursday, the government will authorize, through a memorandum, the Ministry of Finance to contract legal assistance for the representation of Romania in the process that the Pfizer company filed against the Romanian state. The first term will take place on February 20.

On the agenda of today’s government meeting is a memorandum on this topic.

“Approval of the authorization of the Ministry of Finance for the contracting of legal assistance and representation services in order to ensure the representation of Romania in the case registered with no. F5331-23, pending before the Court of Francophone First Court in Brussels“, it is stated on the website gov.ro.

The first court date will be on February 20, 2024, according to the cited source. Pfizer – BioNTech sued Romania to force our country to pay for all the anti-Covid vaccines it contracted following the protocol signed in 2021.

The company initiated similar lawsuits against Poland and Hungary.

The Minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila, said last week that Pfizer “will do well” with regard to the lawsuit filed against Romania and claimed that it seems unnatural “for a pharmaceutical company to blow up the credibility of vaccination”.

“Romania is called to judged by the Pfizer company and there are certain procedures at the Government level in which either the Government or the Ministry of Finance hires a law firm. The problem is related to the fact that the firm that will effectively represent Romania at the trial must know the Belgian legislation and the process it takes place in French. (…) I got in touch with those in Poland, I had a discussion related to this process and an attempt to coordinate the positions of the two countries. There is also the third country, Hungary . We will see if we can have a joint or separate representation, but anyway the teams of lawyers should talk to each other. I suspect that the Pfizer company will also fare well in this process, because at least for me, as a health person public, it seems absolutely unnatural for a pharmaceutical company to blow up the credibility of vaccination in general, I’m not referring to the anti-COVID vaccination”, Alexandru Rafila told Antena 3.