20/10/2010
There may be consequences if Romania doesn't soon alter and implement its laws on property confiscated under communism.
By Paul Ciocoiu for Southeast European Times in Bucharest – 20/10/10
There may be consequences if Romania doesn't soon alter and implement its laws on property confiscated under communism.
By Paul Ciocoiu for Southeast European Times in Bucharest – 20/10/10
The European Court for Human Rights gave Romania an ultimatum last week to amend its law on the restitution of, or compensation for, communist-era confiscated property within 18 months, following a ruling it issued in the first pilot-decision on the matter in two separate cases.
A pilot-decision is taken after repeated encroachment upon fundamental rights, and automatically leads to the suspension of all similar lawsuits before the court until the problem is resolved.
The court then verifies the measures the state adopts and, if approved, refers the suspended cases back to the national tribunals.
"We will analyse this decision with the ministry of justice and then communicate all the measures we will take in this case," Prime Minister Emil Boc said.
Boc also asked for an inter-ministerial working group to be created to identify viable solutions for the restitution problem.
The absence of a coherent restitution -- or compensation -- mechanism has been a problem for 20 years, reflecting excessive bureaucracy, confusing laws and stalled lawsuits.
For now, all the pending cases before the court in Strasbourg have been suspended until Romania amends its current legislation and creates an effective compensation system.
The court also ruled Romania has to pay 180,000 euros in compensation in the two cases it has decided -- Maria Atanasiu and Ileanu Poenaru vs Romania and Florica Solon vs Romania.
The European Court's unprecedented ruling carries great significance because, even though it has asked Romania to settle the nationalisation issue before, this time noncompliance can lead to Romania's exclusion from the Council of Europe.
By May, the National Agency for Property Restitution had received more than 63,000 property return claims, but only about 4,000 have so far been resolved.
Experts assess the government would have to come up with around 21 billion euros to compensate the owners of confiscated properties. A court report for 2009 shows nearly 9% of the cases regarded Romania, most of them dealing with the unreturned property issue.
Analysts say last week's ruling suggests the court in Strasbourg has lost its patience.
A pilot-decision is taken after repeated encroachment upon fundamental rights, and automatically leads to the suspension of all similar lawsuits before the court until the problem is resolved.
The court then verifies the measures the state adopts and, if approved, refers the suspended cases back to the national tribunals.
"We will analyse this decision with the ministry of justice and then communicate all the measures we will take in this case," Prime Minister Emil Boc said.
Boc also asked for an inter-ministerial working group to be created to identify viable solutions for the restitution problem.
The absence of a coherent restitution -- or compensation -- mechanism has been a problem for 20 years, reflecting excessive bureaucracy, confusing laws and stalled lawsuits.
For now, all the pending cases before the court in Strasbourg have been suspended until Romania amends its current legislation and creates an effective compensation system.
The court also ruled Romania has to pay 180,000 euros in compensation in the two cases it has decided -- Maria Atanasiu and Ileanu Poenaru vs Romania and Florica Solon vs Romania.
The European Court's unprecedented ruling carries great significance because, even though it has asked Romania to settle the nationalisation issue before, this time noncompliance can lead to Romania's exclusion from the Council of Europe.
By May, the National Agency for Property Restitution had received more than 63,000 property return claims, but only about 4,000 have so far been resolved.
Experts assess the government would have to come up with around 21 billion euros to compensate the owners of confiscated properties. A court report for 2009 shows nearly 9% of the cases regarded Romania, most of them dealing with the unreturned property issue.
Analysts say last week's ruling suggests the court in Strasbourg has lost its patience.
"The ruling should not be regarded as a surprise ... What is surprising is that no such decision was adopted sooner, since we are talking about as many as 1,500 similar pending files," Victor Lupu, deputy editor-in-chief of the English language daily Nine O'Clock, told SETimes.
"For more than a decade, during the 1990s, the issue had been avoided by the country's rulers, postponing a clear-cut decision, by extending for three, then five years the tenants' contracts, while the owners simply had to wait. The same procedure was repeated over and over," he added.
Commentators agree there are various interests linked to property retrocession that may imperil the very spirit of the legal framework. Thus far, the government generally ruled in favour of the claimants.
"Unfortunately for them, nothing happened afterwards, as they did not get their properties back. It is quite probable that after 18 months, Romania could be in the same situation, and the court might just have to solve the 1,500 cases," Lupu said.
This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.
"For more than a decade, during the 1990s, the issue had been avoided by the country's rulers, postponing a clear-cut decision, by extending for three, then five years the tenants' contracts, while the owners simply had to wait. The same procedure was repeated over and over," he added.
Commentators agree there are various interests linked to property retrocession that may imperil the very spirit of the legal framework. Thus far, the government generally ruled in favour of the claimants.
"Unfortunately for them, nothing happened afterwards, as they did not get their properties back. It is quite probable that after 18 months, Romania could be in the same situation, and the court might just have to solve the 1,500 cases," Lupu said.
This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου