Romanian Govt. changes law on sale of agricultural land

Romania’s Agriculture Ministry is preparing to change the rules on the sale of agricultural land. It will condition the sale of land to favor people who are involved in agriculture, mainly young farmers, according to a document consulted by Profit.ro. Moreover, investors will be forbidden to resell the land for a certain period of time, in order to keep it in the agricultural circuit. Ministry representatives have already met with farmer representatives. Romania liberalized the sale of land to foreigners in 2014. The annual sale offers have tripled since then. Romania recorded over 45,600 sale offers for over 58,000 hectares of agricultural land in 2014. By comparison, the number of sale offers reached 140,000 last year, for over 144,000 hectares of land. Over 100,000 sale offers totaling some 110,000 hectares of agricultural land were also recorded in the first nine months of this year. The European Commission has recently published a guide meant to help member states protect their agricultural land. It states that EU countries are allowed to restrict the sale of land to preserve the agricultural communities and promote a sustainable agriculture. At the end of August, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Liviu Dragnea said that authorities would draft a bill on the sale of agricultural land, which would mainly help Romanians buy land. editor@romania-insider.com