Romania’s Govt. postpones deadline for settling restitution claims on land confiscated during communism

The Romanian Government has decided to postpone, via an Emergency Ordinance, the deadline for settling the restitution claims filed for land plots abusively confiscated by the communist regime. The local and county land fund committees were supposed to settle these claims, put the owners in possession and issue the property titles until January 1, 2016. The Emergency Ordinance is to be adopted during the Wednesday meeting, reports local Mediafax. The former Government led by Victor Ponta took responsibility in front of the Parliament for this law in April 2013. The law stipulates the restitution of these properties to their rightful owners or, if this is no longer possible, a compensation by points. Those entitled to get a land plot that could not be returned as it was should have received a number of points that was equal to the plot's value. These points were to be used for purchasing properties from the national funds during public auctions. The national land funds were supposed to include land plots owned by agriculture research institutes and other public authorities, as well as forests owned by state company Romsilva. Romania plans another national fund for property restitution, with landplots and forestry as main assets Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com