The Senate has tacitly approved the draft law approving Government Emergency Ordinance no. 38/2025, which amends Law no. 165/2013 regarding the measures for finalizing the restitution process — in kind or by equivalent — of properties abusively taken during the communist regime in Romania.
The draft law has reached the Chamber of Deputies.
If the law is adopted in this form, it will result in a new nationalization of the assets of persons whose properties were taken by the communist regime 80 years ago! Specifically:
– Land will no longer be restituted, on the grounds that its value has increased during the 80 years in which it was abusively held by the state.
– Compensation for buildings will be limited to a maximum of 70% of their value, because they have depreciated while being used by the state.
– If entitled individuals exercised their compensation rights by assigning payment titles in order to receive in a single tranche what the state would have paid over 5/7 years, the law nationalizes 85% of those rights legally acquired by the assignee.
This is not an example of an “honest Romania”!