Romania to pay victims of post-WWII land grab

AFP/BucharestRomanian premier Victor Ponta introduced yesterday legislation to compensate citizens who had their land seized by the Communist regime after World War II, and apologised for the suffering caused.The bill is expected to be adopted without debate later this week in a significant step by the country, one of the last in eastern Europe to tackle restitution from the Communist-era.Ponta’s centre-left government had been given until May 12 by the European Court of Human Rights to adopt compensation legislation, after receiving complaints from thousands of discontented former landowners.Over two decades after the overthrow and execution of brutal dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, the country’s last Communist leader, some 200,000 restitution demands remain.The Communist government that came after 1945 nationalised all companies including hospitals and other public institutions, and made citizens give up their land in a move towards collective farming, forcing people into high-rises.“The right to property is fundamental and today I want to apologise to all those who suffered, above all the religious denominations,” said Ponta, whose coalition holds a two-thirds majority in parliament.“But we cannot repair an injustice by perpetrating a new one,” he added.He said his government had found a compromise solution on the restitution legislation to keep public expenditure under control, which had been accepted by the European Court of Human Rights.The Council of Europe, which pushes for improved human and democratic rights, had criticised an earlier version of the bill, stressing it left many questions unanswered, but has said it is pleased with the changes made to the latest version.The draft law stipulates that former owners whose property cannot be restored in kind will receive a number of points, the equivalent of the property’s market value.The points will be used to buy other properties, at auctions organised by the authorities, or will be transformed into cash, starting in 2017.Ponta said Romania has already spent 5bn euros ($6.5bn) to compensate owners. Under the new law an additional 8bn euros will be set aside to settle the claims.