Eurocontrol sides with PANSA in the dispute over seized money. Sentence until November 26

Eurocontrol, the European organization through which navigation fees are collected from airlines and then transferred, among others, to the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency, confirms in a statement sent to RMF FM that the new protocol to the agreement with Belgium is intended to additionally protect these fees against attempts to seize them. The document "strengthens Eurocontrol's immunity from execution in Belgium, where the organization is based," the statement reads.

During the hearing, Eurocontrol's representative strongly defended the protocol and explained its importance to the court.

PANSA argued during the hearing that the money from navigation fees serves a specific purpose - financing air traffic control. She emphasized that Polish airspace is of particular importance today due to the war on the eastern border, increased military traffic and emerging threats, including from drones.

As PANSA president Magdalena Jaworska-Maćkowiak told RMF FM, the judge announced that she would issue rulings in the Polish and Romanian case by November 26 at the latest. They are scheduled to expire on a similar date. A hearing in the case of the Romanian air traffic control agency Romatsa is scheduled for October 26.

Both cases involve the seizure of money owed to air traffic control agencies. The Polish agency is fighting to unblock funds that should go to it through Eurocontrol.

The new protocol to the agreement on the headquarters of Eurocontrol in Belgium entered into force on August 9, 2026. As Magdalena Jaworska-Maćkowiak pointed out in an interview with RMF FM, the case is beginning to become part of a broader legal dispute in Belgium. Complaints were submitted to the Belgian Constitutional Court regarding the manner in which the protocol and the document itself were adopted.

Doubts concern, among other things, the division of competences between the Belgian federal government and the regions. The issue is whether the protocol was adopted in accordance with the correct procedures. It is not yet known what impact these proceedings will have on the case of the Polish agency.

The blockade of PANSA's money is related to the enforcement of the judgment of April 1, 2026 in the dispute between Poland and Pfizer over unclaimed Covid-19 vaccines. The judgment ordered Poland to take back approximately 64 million doses and pay the company PLN 5 billion 644 million. Poland appealed against this ruling.