IV 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 191

Urging the Government of Romania to recognize its responsibilities to provide 

equitable, prompt, and fair restitution to all religious communities for 

property confiscated by the former Communist government in Romania. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 6, 2005

Mr. LANTOS (for himself and Mr. TANCREDO) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations 

RESOLUTION

Urging the Government of Romania to recognize its responsibilities to provide equitable, prompt, and fair restitution 

to all religious communities for property confiscated by 

the former Communist government in Romania.

Whereas the establishment of a Communist government in 

Romania after World War II proved disastrous for established religious institutions; 

Whereas a central element of persecution by the Communist 

government in Romania was the uncompensated confiscation of real and personal property from religious communities and from leaders of religious communities, and the 

arrest and persecution of religious leaders; 

Whereas 2,140 schools, hospitals, orphanages, and other 

charitable and civic institutions were illegally confiscated 
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under communism from the four historic Hungarian 

churches (Roman Catholic, Hungarian Reformed, Evangelical Lutheran, and Unitarian) and actual possession 

and use of such properties has been denied in all but 30 

cases; 

Whereas Romania’s wartime Fascist government began the 

process of confiscating Jewish property in September 

1940 and its postwar Communist government reaffirmed 

most of these confiscations; 

Whereas only a handful of Jewish communal properties have 

been restituted, often with government agencies still 

using the facilities and paying no rent, and over 1,000 

communal properties remain in the possession of the 

Government of Romania; 

Whereas some Jewish claims have been willfully ignored for 

years, such as in the case of agricultural land in Iasi, 

where municipal authorities continue to sells parcels of 

this land; 

Whereas on January 2, 1990, under terms of Decree-Law 

126/1990, the 1948 decree which dissolved the Romanian 

Greek Catholic Church was abrogated, permitting Greek 

Catholics again to worship openly, and legal provisions 

and procedures were established for the return of confiscated properties that before 1948 belonged to the 

Greek Catholic Church; 

Whereas the commission established under Decree-Law 126/

1990 composed of representatives of the Romanian Government and Greek Catholic Church has proven ineffective in resolving disputed claims; 

Whereas Romanian Law No. 501/2002, providing for the restitution of religious properties, was adopted in June 2002 
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without consultation with the affected religious communities, does not effectively meet the needs of those communities, contains numerous legal deficiencies, and is delayed in its implementation; 

Whereas all of the religious communities have demanded the 

return of property seized by the Romanian Communist 

government; 

Whereas since 1990, post-Communist countries in Central 

and Eastern Europe have grappled with the question of 

how to redress these wrongful confiscations of religious 

property, but Romania has lagged significantly behind 

other post-Communist countries; 

Whereas since the early 1990s, the United States Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe has monitored the property restitution and compensation efforts 

being made by the governments of post-Communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe; 

Whereas with respect to the role of the Romanian courts in 

the restitution process, the Chairman of the United 

States Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe observed: ‘‘In the mid-1990s . . . hundreds of court 

decisions in favor of property claimants were reversed by 

the Supreme Court after they had become final and irrevocable judgments. The European Court of Human Rights 

has recently ruled that these actions violated the European Convention on Human Rights.’’; and 

Whereas Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human 

Rights provides that ‘‘[e]veryone has the right to freedom 

of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes 

freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or 
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private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, 

practice, worship and observance.’’: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

2 (1) notes with concern the unwillingness of past 

3 governments of Romania to recognize the responsi4 bility to provide equitable, prompt, and fair restitu5 tion of religious property that was confiscated by the 

6 former Communist government of Romania; 

7 (2) calls on the Government of Romania—

8 (A) to respect the constitutional rights of 

9 existence and practice of all religious commu10 nities to celebrate and practice their own reli11 gion in respectable locations, the right to propa12 gate the given beliefs, and the right to openly 

13 communicate the beliefs and laws of the reli14 gion; 

15 (B) to provide fair, prompt, and equitable 

16 restitution to all religious communities under 

17 Romanian law and in accordance with the Con18 stitution of Romania and all applicable inter19 national agreements to which Romania is a 

20 party; and 

21 (C) to provide restitution for the property 

22 rights of all agricultural and forestry lands be23 longing to religious communities; 
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1 (3) calls upon the Government of Romania to 

2 amend Decree-Law 126/1990 to require that claims 

3 involving Romanian Greek Catholic properties be 

4 heard by an independent, disinterested, nonreligious 

5 commission, and calls upon the Government of Ro6 mania to prevent the demolition of Greek Catholic 

7 churches and to provide immediately for the security 

8 of all Greek Catholic churches and other religious 

9 buildings dating from the 18th and 19th centuries; 

10 and 

11 (4) with respect to Romanian Law No. 501/

12 2002, calls upon the Government of Romania—

13 (A) to amend the law to reflect the prin14 ciple of ‘‘restitution in integrum’’ as urged by 

15 Resolution 1123/1997 of the Parliamentary As16 sembly of the Council of Europe and to restore 

17 full ownership of all property and all rights 

18 emanating from such ownership; 

19 (B) to amend the law to reduce the five20 year period to one year during which public in21 stitutions can continue to occupy confiscated re22 ligious properties; 

23 (C) to amend the law to include compensa24 tion, according to an equitable formula, for de25 molished religious properties; 
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1 (D) to increase to fair market value the 

2 amount of rent paid to religious communities 

3 for properties of which they cannot immediately 

4 regain use under law; 

5 (E) to eliminate the practice of requiring 

6 monetary compensation from religious commu7 nities to cover state costs for maintenance and 

8 ‘‘improvement’’ of the buildings since their con9 fiscation in the 1940s; and 

10 (F) to obligate local government officials, 

11 bodies, and agencies to provide all necessary 

12 documentation and cooperation to facilitate the 

13 implementation of decisions issued by the cen14 tral government’s Special Restitution Com15 mittee and to cease posing court challenges and 

16 other obstacles against such implementation.

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