Interventions
After five years of efforts — with our first freedom-of-information requests submitted to the Polish government — the European Commission has disclosed the agreement with Pfizer/BioNTech concerning the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines. However, the document remains partially redacted. The withheld information includes prices, payment and settlement terms, manufacturing and technological details, and some provisions concerning the manufacturer’s liability.
The first requests for access to the agreement were submitted in 2020 and 2021. Polish public institutions refused to disclose it, citing confidentiality, trade secrets, and the protection of commercial interests. The matter was revisited in 2026 following a Belgian court ruling ordering Poland to pay the amounts due and accept delivery of approximately 64 million vaccine doses.
The Commission provided the document on 29 July 2026. It explained that the delay was partly due to proceedings before the General Court of the European Union and the need to determine which sections of the agreement could be disclosed. According to the Commission, publishing the agreement in full could harm Pfizer/BioNTech’s negotiating position, while the applicants had not demonstrated an overriding public interest that would justify the disclosure of all the information. The decision may be appealed within 15 days.
We publish the agreement below.
Link to the accompanying letter
At the local level
Local Lobbying
In July, during an online meeting hosted by Joanna Wons-Kleta, Mayor of the Pawonków municipality, and the President of Watchdog Poland, we summarised our project on local lobbying. The participants emphasised that municipal authorities are influenced not only by companies and property developers, but also by residents, civil society organisations, experts and local interest groups. Attempting to influence decisions is not inherently wrong. The problem arises when it takes place informally, beyond public scrutiny, and without any way of determining who contacted the authorities and on what matter.
The current lobbying regulations are too narrow and do not cover many important areas, such as spatial planning, investment decisions or the expenditure of public funds. Local governments often lack procedures governing lobbying and conflicts of interest. The proposed solutions included publishing officials’ meeting calendars, maintaining registers of contacts with public authorities and applying conflict-of-interest rules more effectively. The main conclusion of the discussion was that influence over local government cannot be eliminated, but it should be transparent, equitable and subject to public oversight.
Local forest
Forests are an important part of local identity, which is why the Citizens Network Watchdog Poland signed an appeal by environmental organisations calling for the rejection of the proposed amendment to the Forest Act. According to the signatories, the bill does not fully implement the 2023 judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union, as it restricts the participation of civil society organisations, limits access to the courts, and fails to ensure that citizens have a genuine influence on forest management.
Watchdog Poland primarily supports the demands for transparent decision-making, public oversight, and effective legal remedies against the actions of public authorities. The organisations are calling for new legislation to be prepared in cooperation with experts, environmentalists, and the public.
Daily life at Watchdog Poland
In July, as the Citizens Network Watchdog Poland, we took part in two working group meetings devoted to the future of the right of access to public information. During the first meeting, we discussed with representatives of the public administration repetitive and extensive information requests, procedural problems, and restrictions related to national security. We also presented the results of our monitoring, which show that cases described by institutions as an abuse of the right to information concern only a small proportion of the entities surveyed.
The second meeting focused on digital tools, the functioning of Public Information Bulletins, and ways to make public data more accessible to citizens. We discussed, among other issues, the fragmentation of information, the lack of common standards, technical problems affecting Public Information Bulletins, the possibility of creating a single platform for submitting information requests, and better integration of public registers. Both meetings were another stage in the dialogue between civil society and the government on increasing transparency and improving access to public information.
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