A Brussels court ruled on Wednesday that Poland and Romania honour COVID vaccine purchase agreements signed with US drugmaker Pfizer under the EU’s largest joint procurement deal.

The ruling ordered Warsaw to pay around €1.3 billion and Bucharest around €600 million for undelivered doses, according to the court’s statement, following legal action filed in 2023 by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech.

At stake is not just the unintended consequences for the member states’ finances, but also the credibility of the joint purchase procedure negotiated in part by the Commission President, and Ursula von der Leyen herself, which was widely criticised.

The contracts imposed legally binding obligations on member states to pay for doses even as demand declined, resulting in millions of unwanted coronavirus jabs being discarded.

In its ruling, the court stressed that the process leading to the contracts was sound, saying that “the evidence before it did not allow it to find any irregularity in the public procurement process used to award the contract to Pfizer.”

Judges found that the conditions for terminating the procurement contracts had not been met. They also rejected arguments from both countries that the terms were unfair or that changes in the pandemic justified altering their obligations.

Consequently, judges “ordered Poland to take delivery of the remaining vaccine doses and to pay their price to Pfizer,” amounting to around €1.3 billion, the court’s statement reads.

Romania was handed a similar decision and was “ordered to take delivery of the remaining vaccine doses and to pay their price to Pfizer,” amounting to nearly €600 million, the statement reads.

A spokesperson for Pfizer said the company “now expects member states to follow the court’s ruling.”

“This decision reflects the importance of the contractual obligations that underpinned a successful European pandemic response, which was built on the principle of solidarity between member states”, they added.

But in a statement, the Polish health ministry said the country “intends to use all legal remedies available to it to reverse this ruling and defend its interests.”

The unusual legal confrontation between major pharmaceutical companies and EU countries may have broader implications for other member states, such as Hungary.

Budapest is due in court on 16 April over similar allegations of failing to honour vaccine contracts. Pfizer is seeking about €60 million plus interest.

A spokesperson for Romania did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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