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108th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 632
Urging the Government of Romania to provide equitable, prompt, and fair
restitution to the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic
Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Unitarian Church, the
Hungarian Reformed Church, the Jewish community, and other affected
religious communities for property confiscated by the former Communist
government in Romania.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 6, 2004
Mr. Tancredo (for himself, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Ryan of Ohio,
and Ms. Kaptur) submitted the following resolution; which was referred
to the Committee on International Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Urging the Government of Romania to provide equitable, prompt, and fair
restitution to the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic
Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Unitarian Church, the
Hungarian Reformed Church, the Jewish community, and other affected
religious communities for property confiscated by the former Communist
government in Romania.
Whereas the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the
Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Unitarian Church, the Hungarian
Reformed Church, the Jewish community, and other affected religious
communities have suffered the confiscation of their property in Romania;
Whereas on December 1, 1948, the Communist government in Romania enacted
legislation which dissolved the Romanian Greek Catholic Church and
transferred most of its property to the Romanian Orthodox Church;
Whereas many Romanian Greek Catholic churches, Roman Catholic churches,
Evangelical Lutheran churches, Unitarian churches, Hungarian Reformed
churches, and Jewish institutions were closed by the Communist
government and many of their secular properties seized;
Whereas a central element of persecution by the Communist government in Romania
was the uncompensated confiscation of real and personal property from
individuals and religious communities;
Whereas on January 2, 1990, the 1948 decree which dissolved the Romanian Greek
Catholic Church was abrogated, Greek Catholics began to worship openly
again and three secretly ordained bishops emerged from hiding;
Whereas the Romanian Government adopted Law-Decree NR. 126/1990 to lay down
legal provisions and procedure for the return of confiscated property
that originally belonged to the Greek Catholic Church, stipulating that
``[t]he property seized by the State pursuant to Decree No. 358/1948 and
currently in the possession of the State shall, with the exception of
agricultural lands, be returned in their present state to the Romanian
Greek Catholic Church United with Rome. For the sole purpose of
establishing identification procedures, a commission shall be set up
consisting of representatives of the State and the Romanian Greek
Catholic Church United with Rome appointed by the Government to draw up
the inventories and procedures necessary for restitution'';
Whereas to date, religious communities have reportedly received less than five
percent of their former properties;
Whereas on June 1, 2002, Pope John Paul II urged Romania to return all assets of
the Romanian Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic Churches that were
confiscated by the Communist government in Romania, stating ``[i]t's my
sincere hope that, for example, implementation is given--in terms of
ecclesiastic structures--to the agreements reached among those
responsible of the Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, and the Holy
See'';
Whereas while speaking at a conference on June 3, 2002, regarding the role of
churches in Romania's drive to join NATO and the European Union,
Romanian President Ion Iliescu refused to actively pursue the
restitution of Catholic Church property seized by the former Communist
government because ``[t]he state cannot interfere in restituting
churches to the Catholic Church'', and added that handing back Catholic
property ``is a bit more complicated because the state cannot interfere
in the church hierarchy'';
Whereas the affected religious communities deserve the return of or compensation
for property seized by the Communists;
Whereas since 1990, post-Communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe have
grappled with the question of how to redress these wrongful
confiscations of property with Romania lagging significantly behind the
others; and
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.'': Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) notes with concern the apparent unwillingness of the
Government of Romania to provide equitable, prompt, and fair
restitution to the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, the Roman
Catholic Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Unitarian
Church, the Hungarian Reformed Church, the Jewish community,
and other affected religious communities for property
confiscated by the former Communist government in Romania; and
(2) calls on the Government of Romania--
(A) to provide fair, prompt, and equitable
restitution to the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, the
Roman Catholic Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church,
the Unitarian Church, the Hungarian Reformed Church,
the Jewish community, and other affected religious
communities under Romanian law and in accordance with
the Constitution of Romania and all applicable
international agreements to which Romania is a party;
(B) to respect the constitutional rights of
existence and practice of the Romanian Greek Catholic
Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Evangelical
Lutheran Church, the Unitarian Church, the Hungarian
Reformed Church, the Jewish community, and other
affected religious communities, and to fully enforce
all court decisions regarding the restitution of or
access to seized properties;
(C) to stop the demolition and dismemberment of
Greek Catholic churches and to immediately ensure the
security of all Greek Catholic churches and other
buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries;
(D) to provide restitution for the property rights
of all agricultural and forestry lands belonging to the
Romanian Greek Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic
Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Unitarian
Church, the Hungarian Reformed Church, the Jewish
community, and other affected religious communities;
(E) to repeal Law-Decree NR. 126/1990, as the
transfer of juridical duties of a state to a mixed
ecclesiastic committee has proven ineffectual and
seriously hampers the ability of the Romanian Greek
Catholic Church to seek redress, and to allow the
claims submitted under Law-Decree NR. 126/1990 to be
heard by an independent, unbiased, nonreligious
commission; and
(F) to ensure that the special commission
instituted under Law 501/2002 considers the thousands
of applications for restitution in an open,
transparent, and prompt manner, and expeditiously
issues decisions on the return of properties to
religious communities.
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