RO president opposes bill on monetary gold repatriation, sends it back to Parliament

Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday, November 20, returned to the Parliament the law initiated by former PSD leader Liviu Dragnea and Șerban Nicolae on the repatriation of the gold reserves held abroad by Romania’s National Bank (BNR).

In brief, the Presidency argues that the move might breach some European regulations.

According to a statement of the Presidential Administration, this measure “is likely to affect the legal powers of the BNR and create the conditions for the BNR legislation to deviate from the European treaties, the Statute of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and that of the European Central Bank (ECB) and create difficulties for implementation, which is why it needs to be re-analyzed by Parliament.”

Social Democrat lawmakers Liviu Dragnea and Serban Nicolae initiated a bill so that 95% of the country's gold, meaning almost 100 tonnes, would be kept in Romania.

Currently, 60% of Romania’s monetary gold (103.6 tons) is stored in London.

Romania’s gold reserve was valued at close to EUR 4.5 billion at the end of October, representing 11.4% of Romania’s total international reserves.

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