The Honorable Emil Constantinescu
President of Romania
Bucharest, Romania

Dear Mr. President:

On the occasion of your visit to the United States, we write to share our views on two issues of concern. These issues are anti-Semitism and property restitution.

As you may know, during the past several years the Commission has raised concern regarding expressions of anti-Semitism and xenophobia in Romania public life. In October 1993, a statue honoring Marshal Ion Antonescu, the World War II dictator and ally of Hitler who oversaw the deportation and extermination of more than 200,000 Romanian Jews, was erected on public land in Slobozia in the presence of a member of the government. Since then, two additional monuments have been dedicated to Antonescu, also on public land, and one of Romania's largest military cemeteries was renamed in honor of Antonescu. Nowhere else in Europe has a man with his wartime record and history as Hitler's faithful ally been honored as a national hero.

More recently, as we expressed to you in our letter of November 10, 1997, we were outraged to learn that the Prosecutor General of Romania had recommended to the Supreme Court that it approve the posthumous rehabilitation - due to "lack of evidence" - of members of the wartime Antonescu Government who had been convicted of war crimes. We were pleased to learn that seven of the cases were later withdrawn; however, we continue to call for the withdrawal of the Prosecutor General's recommendation in the case still pending before the Supreme Court, that of Toma Petre Ghitulescu. Moreover, we have been advised that the lawyer representing the Ghitulescu family has filed a private brief urging rehabilitation of the entire original group and has added the name of General Macici, who personally oversaw the extermination of 25,000 Jews in Odessa. Review of these cases by the Supreme Court is set for October of this year. Mr. President, rehabilitation (on the grounds of "lack of evidence") of the officials who were convicted of participating as leaders in the implementation of the Nazis' "Final Solution" would shock us and others in the West who have come to Romania's support and would call into question the sincerity of Romania's commitment to the West's most fundamental shared values.

A number of observes have also recently expressed extreme concern about the apparent evolution of mainstream anti-Semitic campaign in Romania, fueled, after the fall of Ceausescu, by the alliance of several extreme right and extreme left political parties linked to unreformed and nostalgic elements from the former Securitate. These political groups present foreigners in general, and ethnic minorities in particular, including Jews, as responsible for all the difficulties facing Romania. It is our understanding that these sentiments continue to be expressed in both the extremist and mainstream press - for example, reaction to our letter to you of November 10, 1997 expressed in both the National and Romania Mare.

A second issue of great interest to us, and to the Romanian-American community, is property restitution. We appreciate that among the most complicated issues for new democracies to address are claims by individuals and religious communities for the return of property wrongfully confiscated by Communist regimes. Nonetheless, under international law standards, if a country choose to enact restitution or compensation laws, as Romania did in 1991 and 1995, the process must be just, fair and nondiscriminatory. Once a restitution or compensation law is adopted, the government must further ensure that the law is implemented effectively and according to the rule of law.

Several property restitution issues in particular demand attention. First, we were pleased to learn of positive advancements made in regard to communal property restitution to ethnic and religious groups in Romania. We understand that, in April 1997, the Romanian Government adopted a resolution restoring Jewish community ownership rights over six buildings, including the National Jewish Theater, and issued a May 1997 decree that established a committee with joint government and community participation to review communal property claims. We further understand that last month the Romanian Government pledged to return an additional seventeen buildings to several minority ethnic communities. These efforts are positive steps forward in the restitution of the more than 3000 communal properties including orphanages, cultural centers, apartment buildings, ethnic community centers, and houses of worship lost by minority communities under communism. We are concerned, however, that legislation to return properties to the Greek Catholic Church was blocked in the Chamber of Deputies last year and has yet to be enacted.

We are also concerned about private property restitution. Since 1989, many individuals whose properties were confiscated by Communists have pursued restitution claims through the Romanian courts and successfully obtained decrees reinstating their property titles. Upon obtaining what they believed to be final decrees, and in anticipation of retaking possession of their property, the owners began paying taxes on the properties or, in at least one case, the balance due on an old mortgage. Nonetheless, in 1997, the Romanian special prosecutor appealed an estimated 1300 of these cases to the Supreme Court and managed to get reversed the decisions favorable to the owners. Although the special prosecutor' appeals of these decisions have stopped, the earlier favorable decisions have not been reinstated.

Lastly, we are aware that several proposals were introduced in the Romanian Parliament recently that would grant former owners legal title to their properties while simultaneously giving current tenants lengthy rights of occupancy at rents calculated according to the tenant's salary rather than the market value of the property. Under these proposals, the legal owner would be required to pay property taxes in accordance with the property's market value and would be responsible for the property's maintenance despite the fact that the rents received will not cover theses costs nor will the owner enjoy possession of the property. These proposals appear to be overly protective of tenants, a disproportionate number of whom were allegedly Communist party officials, at the great expense of the rightful property owners.

Romanians who suffered under Communist tyranny, many of whom are already quite elderly, deserve prompt and just resolution of communal and private property restitution cases. As a party to Protocol No. 1 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights, Romania has accepted the principle that every person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions. Moreover, as a member of the Council of Europe, Romania should heed Council Resolution 1123 that calls on Romania to amend its property restitution legislation so as to provide for the restitution of confiscated and expropriate property in integrum or, in the alternative, to provide fair compensation. The current legislative proposals, annulment of court decisions in favor of former owners, and the failure to return communal properties to minority religious communities without discrimination, violate the spirit and the letter of Romania's international commitments and the principles of a liberal democracy based upon the rule of law.

Mr. President, we urge you to lead the Romanian Government towards the restoration of property rights in Romania as recognized under contemporary international law and the Romanian Constitution. Doing so will demonstrate Romania's commitment to the rule of law, will move Romania forward in the establishment of a free market economy, will encourage foreign investment and, perhaps most important, will close a painful chapter in Romania's Communist past. In your effort to address the very complex and difficult issue of property restitution, we ask that Romania ensure that all those with legitimate claims, whether current or former citizens, be given fair and equitable treatment and that their claims be adjusted in accordance with the rule of law.

Sincerely,

Christopher H. Smith, M.C. Alfonse D'Amato, U.S.S.
Co-Chairman Chairman

cc: The Honorable James Rosapepe, U.S. Ambassador, Bucharest
The Honorable Mircea Geoana, Ambassador of Romania