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MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES |
Decisions |
CM/Del/Dec(2024)1501/H46-27 |
13 June 2024 |
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1501st meeting, 11-13 June 2024 (DH)
H46-27 Străin and Others group (Application No. 57001/00), Maria Atanasiu and Others (Application No. 30767/05) and Văleanu and Others (Application No. 59012/17) v. Romania Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments
Reference document |
Decisions
The Deputies
1. recalling that these cases concern long-standing structural problems resulting from the ineffectiveness of the reparation mechanisms put in place by Romania to afford restitution of or compensation for properties nationalised under the communist regime;
As regards individual measures
2. as concerns the applications Veniamin and Verbiţchi and Vasu, requested the authorities to recalculate the sums remaining due for pecuniary damage in accordance with the relevant indications of the Court in its case law, by deducting from the amount awarded by the Court in each application the value, at the date of the judgments, of the properties or part of the properties returned, determined, if the authorities so choose, based on the valuation method provided for by domestic law, as well as the amounts already paid to the applicants, and to pay these sums without further delay;
3. as concerns the application Guran and Others, requested them to confirm that they have paid the applicants the outstanding amounts in respect of pecuniary damage pursuant to the judgment, as rectified; requested also the authorities to keep the Committee informed of the relevant developments concerning the adoption of the remaining individual measures in the other cases in the Strǎin and Others group and in the case of Vǎleanu and Others as concerns the application Iuga;
As regards general measures
4. reiterated that, whilst a major step was achieved in 2013 with the establishment of a new reparation mechanism, it has since given rise to concerns most notably on account of delays in the administrative stages of the processing of the claims lodged prior to its entry into force to obtain restitution of or compensation for nationalised properties, in particular at the Bucharest City Hall and at the National Commission for Compensation for Immovable Property;
5. noted with the deepest regret that in the absence of adequate and sufficient measures taken by the authorities to address the Committee’s urgent and repeated calls, the European Court concluded in the recent judgment of Vǎleanu and Others that a structural problem still exists, resulting from the authorities’ persistent failure adequately to respond to reparation claims and indicated that the Romanian authorities are required, under Article 46 of the Convention, to take further general measures to remedy this problem;
6. took note of the information provided by the authorities on a number of remaining issues in these cases and the initiatives taken to resolve them, but regretted the lack of a global and comprehensive response to the concerns raised by the Committee during previous examinations as well as to the Court’s findings in the judgment of Vǎleanu and Others;
7. urged the authorities to take resolute action to resolve rapidly the problems related to the operation of the reparation mechanism and to submit a comprehensive action plan with their in-depth analysis of the Court's findings in this judgment and the solutions envisaged to respond to them, as well as information on the remaining questions in the cases in the Strǎin and Others group;
8. in this context, strongly encouraged them to examine carefully the solutions put forward by the Bucharest City Hall to streamline and speed up the processing of reparation claims pending before this authority and to inform the Committee of the follow-up;
9. invited the Romanian authorities to submit the action plan and the other information above by 31 December 2024 and decided to resume consideration of these cases at their Human Rights meeting in June 2025.