| Attachment No. 6. February 2, 2004 Dark Spot Continues to Blot Romania's Record
Delays and Legal Obstacles Continue to Hinder the
The Special Committee set up to implement the Romanian church property restitution law (No. 501/2002) has ruled on a total of 277 claims out of 7,568 submitted by the March 2, 2003 deadline. Beginning their work several months past the deadline mandated by law, the number of claims approved at seven of its sessions for the four historic Hungarian churches (Roman Catholic, Reformed, Lutheran and Unitarian) totaled 181 (see chart below) of the 2,140 submitted. This brings the total number of properties approved either by government decree or through Law 501/2002 for the Hungarian churches and the minority community to 227. However, the churches have still not regained title to, or occupancy of, these properties. In an unexpected move, the Special Committee announced on June 27, 2003 that instead of issuing written decisions immediately - thereby allowing the claimants to register title to, and, where applicable, regain occupancy of their confiscated properties - it would do so within only 30 days. But it has failed to keep that promise as well: To date, it has only mailed written decisions to the rightful owners in the case of 49 properties, failing to meet its self-imposed deadlines several times. And so, the delay of justice continues for the 1.5 million-strong Hungarian minority of Romania. Progress in processing the claims has been and continues to be impeded by (1) administrative understaffing of the Special Committee (one year after it began working, plans are to increase the staff to eight in February) and (2) obstruction from local authorities in procuring documentation proving the rightful owners' claims. As HHRF has previously noted: the Special Committee does not have the power to constrain local authorities to comply. Moreover, in the majority of Hungarian cases, local authorities have a vested interest in not providing any documentation, since they stand to be disadvantaged by the return of property currently in their possession. The overarching result has been repeatedly protracted deadlines for completing the restitution process - now an optimistic end of 2004.
Most importantly, HHRF has learned of a highly disturbing development: the Special Committee has classified 60 percent of the submitted claims as falling outside the jurisdiction of the Law. Accordingly, these claims will be outright rejected by the Special Committee because they were allegedly made for items not covered under the Law (such as lands, demolished buildings, properties confiscated before 1944 or church buildings themselves). Consequently, 4-4,500 claims stand to be rejected. Obviously, the fate of these claims is a vital issue which must either be addressed by the Special Committee or through new legislation in Parliament.
Fourteen years after the fall of communism, only 227 of 2,140 properties
illegally confiscated from the churches between 1945-1989 have been
returned on paper. Of these, full ownership and use has been established
in only 13 cases (returned under five previous government decrees) including
three communal properties. Only when the rightful owners finally regain
title to, use of and compensation for these properties will the ongoing,
major blow to religious freedom, civil society and the 1.5 million Hungarians
ability to maintain community and church life be reversed. Inventory
of Properties Illegally Confiscated from
February 2, 2004 Status Report
On Thirteen Requirements for Progress by the Romanian Government Below we review the status of these requirements in light of the one-year functioning of the Special Committee established by the law's implementing provisions to assess the claims submitted by Churches. Requirement 1: Amend the law to reduce the maximum five-year non-occupancy period to one year in the case of buildings currently occupied by public institutions. Status: Not done, still necessary. Requirement 2: The Romanian government must give assurances or make provisions to ensure that Special Committee decisions in favor of the claimants are binding decisions which cannot be challenged or overruled by current occupants and/or owners, including the state. Status: Not done, still necessary. Requirement 3: The deadline for submitting claims should be extended beyond March 2, 2003 upon consultation with the affected Churches. Status: This was not done. HHRF previously reported, and the Special Committee has subsequently acknowledged, that the Churches faced difficulties in obtaining the documentation set forth in the Implementing Provisions to justify their claims. Of more immediate concern is newer, related Requirement 5. Requirement 4: Eliminate the requirement to obtain "updated” title deeds and "legal status certificates” for claims submitted by the Churches by the March 2, 2003 deadline. Status: Not done, still necessary. As we previously reported, the Special Committee deemed 90 percent of the claims submitted by all the Churches "incomplete” and is demanding "updated” title deeds for all claims submitted in 2002, as well as "legal status certificates” from the local authorities in all 7,568 cases! Since the Special Committee is aware that (1) it does not have the power to constrain local authorities to comply and (2) in the overwhelming majority of Hungarian cases, the local authorities have a vested interested in not providing any documentation since they stand to be disadvantaged by the return of property currently in their possession, it has not imposed deadlines for obtaining these documents. Requirement 5: The workload and pace of the Special Committee should be reviewed and any necessary adjustments made as soon as possible to ensure that it meets the 60-day deadline. The U.S. government should encourage the Romanian authorities not to deny any claims. Status: Not done. In not one case did the Special Committee meet the 60-day deadline from date of submission for ruling on each individual case. To date, after a six-month delay, it has ruled on a total of 277 cases out of 7,568 on six occasions. A member of the Special Committee has indicated that the administrative staff will be increased to eight beginning February 2004, but even so, at its current pace, it will take the committee a minimum of seven years to merely process the submitted claims. Requirement 6: A confidence-building measure would be to institute bi-weekly briefings between the Special Committee and representatives from the historic Hungarian churches, NGOs and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania, with the possible inclusion of Ambassador Michael Guest, to discuss progress and tackle issues. The adversarial relationship created between the Churches and the Special Committee by the Law and the Implementing Provisions would thereby be mitigated. Status: In progress. The Special Committee and representatives from the historic Hungarian churches, NGOs and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania are ready to have their first meeting in this respect. Participation of U.S. State Department is considered most important by each party. Requirement 7: Amend the Law and establish an equitable formula for compensating the churches for demolished properties. Status: Not done, still necessary, especially in light of the fact that apparently many claims submitted were for such properties and will therefore be rejected. Requirement 8: Amend the Law and Implementing Provisions to specify who evaluates the state of properties at the end of the probable five-year occupancy period in cases of occupation by public institutions, thereby preventing future misunderstandings. Status: Not done, still necessary. According to DAHR Parliamentarian László Borbély, the Romanian Cabinet will debate such a legal provision at its first meeting in 2004. Requirement 9: Refund property taxes to those churches which had to pay taxes on properties they had not regained full occupancy of. Status: Not done, still necessary. Requirement 10: Amend the Law to specifically exclude the practice of requiring monetary compensation from the Churches to cover state costs for maintenance and improvement of the buildings since their confiscation in the late 1940's. Status: Not done, still necessary. Requirement 11: Enact the law on the restitution of confiscated minority community properties and involve the Hungarian minority in the drafting process and implementation. Status: Not done, still necessary. A draft bill, modifying former government decree No. 83/1999, was submitted to Parliament and a reconciled version adopted by both houses. Its content, which is apparently similar to the Law No. 501/2002 on church property restitution, is yet to be made public. The earliest timeframe for finalization of the community property law will be the Spring session of Parliament, therefore, at best one year after the deadline of March 31, 2003 stipulated in the 2003 Cooperation Agreement between the ruling PSD and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarian in Romania. The draft was not submitted to a broader debate by the country's various minority communities. Requirement 12: Implement laws on restoring to their rightful owners ecclesiastical objects, baptismal records and church archives seized by communist authorities. Status: Partial implementation of Law 182/2000 in progress regarding the return of ecclesiastical objects to their rightful owners. DAHR Parliamentarians have submitted a draft on returning church archives seized by communist authorities, but it languishes in committee. Requirement 13: As requested by the historic Hungarian churches from Prime Minister Adrian Nastase in May 2002, guarantee in legislation the immediate and unqualified return of ten percent of the total properties confiscated, to counterbalance the inevitable delays which will occur in implementing full restitution. Status: Not done. Delays, as predicted have already occurred and will necessarily continue unless dramatic legal and procedural changes are immediately implemented. Since the latter is highly unlikely, a return of the symbolic ten percent is timelier than ever. |
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