[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 69 (Monday, May 23, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H3729-H3732]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     URGING ROMANIA TO PROVIDE RESTITUTION TO RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree 
to the resolution (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, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                              H. Res. 191

       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 
     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

[[Page H3730]]

     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 sell 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 
     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 private, to 
     manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, 
     worship and observance.'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) notes with concern the unwillingness of past 
     governments of Romania to recognize the responsibility to 
     provide equitable, prompt, and fair restitution of religious 
     property that was confiscated by the former Communist 
     government of Romania;
       (2) calls on the Government of Romania--
       (A) to respect the constitutional rights of existence and 
     practice of all religious communities to celebrate and 
     practice their own religion in respectable locations, the 
     right to propagate the given beliefs, and the right to openly 
     communicate the beliefs and laws of the religion;
       (B) to provide fair, prompt, and equitable restitution to 
     all religious communities under Romanian law and in 
     accordance with the Constitution of Romania and all 
     applicable international agreements to which Romania is a 
     party; and
       (C) to provide restitution for the property rights of all 
     agricultural and forestry lands belonging to religious 
     communities;
       (3) calls upon the Government of Romania to amend Decree-
     Law 126/1990 to require that claims involving Romanian Greek 
     Catholic properties be heard by an independent, 
     disinterested, nonreligious commission, and calls upon the 
     Government of Romania to prevent the demolition of Greek 
     Catholic churches and to provide immediately for the security 
     of all Greek Catholic churches and other religious buildings 
     dating from the 18th and 19th centuries; and
       (4) with respect to Romanian Law No. 501/2002, calls upon 
     the Government of Romania--
       (A) to amend the law to reflect the principle of 
     ``restitution in integrum'' as urged by Resolution 1123/1997 
     of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and to 
     restore full ownership of all property and all rights 
     emanating from such ownership;
       (B) to amend the law to reduce the five-year period to one 
     year during which public institutions can continue to occupy 
     confiscated religious properties;
       (C) to amend the law to include compensation, according to 
     an equitable formula, for demolished religious properties;
       (D) to increase to fair market value the amount of rent 
     paid to religious communities for properties of which they 
     cannot immediately regain use under law;
       (E) to eliminate the practice of requiring monetary 
     compensation from religious communities to cover state costs 
     for maintenance and ``improvement'' of the buildings since 
     their confiscation in the 1940s; and
       (F) to obligate local government officials, bodies, and 
     agencies to provide all necessary documentation and 
     cooperation to facilitate the implementation of decisions 
     issued by the central government's Special Restitution 
     Committee and to cease posing court challenges and other 
     obstacles against such implementation.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen).


                             General Leave

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 191. This 
resolution was introduced by the distinguished gentleman from 
California (Mr. Lantos). House Resolution 191 urges 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.
  Specifically, this resolution expresses concern at the unwillingness 
of past governments of Romania to provide restitution of religious 
property that was confiscated by former Communist government officials 
of Romania. A central element of persecution by the Communist 
government in Romania was the uncompensated confiscation of property 
from religious communities and religious leaders, and the arrest and 
persecution of religious leaders. After the collapse of the Communist 
regime in Romania in 1989 and 1990, the new government of Romania 
adopted legislation to provide for the restitution of religious 
property seized during the previous 45 years of Communist rule. That 
legislation has been poorly and slowly implemented by Romanian 
governments over the past 15 years, and very little of this property 
has been returned to Romania's religious communities.
  The religious communities that have been adversely affected include 
the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the 
Hungarian Reformed Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, as well as 
the Unitarian Church, the Jewish community, and other religious 
communities. Given the inherent injustice in the confiscation of these 
properties as well as Romania's desire to engage with other democracies 
through Euro-Atlantic institutions such as NATO and the European Union, 
Romania must take steps to accelerate the return of these properties to 
their rightful owners.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time for the government of Romania to face its 
responsibilities and implement what is necessary to resolve these 
issues. I urge the adoption of this important resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I 
rise in support of House Resolution 191.
  I first want to thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) for his 
effort in bringing this resolution forward for action in the House 
today. I also want to acknowledge our colleagues who introduced this 
legislation: the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) and the 
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo). As our colleagues know, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) has had a longstanding interest 
and concern for Central Europe and these issues involving religious 
liberty.
  Mr. Speaker, freedom of religion is one of the most important of the 
blessings of liberty that is assured to us in the United States by the 
first amendment to our Constitution. It is also a freedom that is 
explicitly guaranteed in the universal declaration of human rights. 
Article 18 states: ``Everyone has

[[Page H3731]]

the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and freedom, 
either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to 
manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and 
observance.''
  It is not enough, Mr. Speaker, for men and women to have freedom of 
conscience to believe what they choose. It is also essential that they 
have the right to join with others of like mind to practice and worship 
together as a religious community; and for this right to be meaningful, 
they must have the right to control property that they can use for 
religious, charitable, and educational purposes consistent with their 
beliefs.
  The important resolution that we are considering today goes to the 
heart of this problem, and it raises serious questions about continuing 
difficulties of some religious communities in Romania. Romania, like 
many other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, faced 4\1/2\ 
decades of Communist rule, and Communist Party leaders feared that 
religion would undermine their authoritarian rule. As a result, most 
religious property in the country was seized by the Communist 
government.
  Following the collapse of Communist rule, the countries of Central 
and Eastern Europe have all had to deal with the restitution of 
property to religious communities, and it has been a difficult and 
complex process everywhere. In Romania it has been more complex and 
much slower than elsewhere. For this reason, the resolution before us 
today urges the Romanian government 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.
  Mr. Speaker, the resolution singles out the three categories of 
religious communities for whom restitution has been particularly slow 
and unsatisfactory in Romania. The Jewish community saw its properties 
confiscated beginning in September of 1940 under the Fascist government 
that preceded the Communist government, but the Communist government 
reaffirmed these confiscations after it came to power. Only a handful 
of Jewish communal properties have been restituted and over 1,000 
communal properties are still under government control.
  The religious communities of the Hungarian ethnic minority have also 
faced the same problem. Over 2,000 schools, hospitals, orphanages and 
other charitable and civic properties were seized from the Roman 
Catholic Church, which in Romania is primarily Hungarian; the Hungarian 
Reformed Church; the Evangelical Lutheran Church; and the Hungarian 
Unitarian Church.
  The third community is the Greek Catholic Church, a community which 
is united with the Roman Catholic Church but which observes the Greek 
Orthodox liturgy. In 1948 the Greek Catholic Church was dissolved, and 
its members were forcibly merged with the Romanian Orthodox Church and 
its properties either seized by the government or given to the Romanian 
Orthodox Church. In 1990 the Romanian Government adopted legislation to 
recognize the Greek Catholic community and permit its members to 
worship openly. Unfortunately, the legal provisions to resolve property 
restitution have been singularly unsuccessful.
  Mr. Speaker, the European Court of Human Rights and the Commission on 
Security and Cooperation in Europe have both criticized the succession 
of Romanian governments' failures to satisfactorily deal with the 
problems. House Resolution 191 urges the recently elected government to 
take the initiative and work to solve religious property restitution. 
The government has recently adopted legislation that attempts to deal 
with some of the issues, and we welcome that effort to put better 
legislation in place to solve these problems. It will require active 
and continuing efforts, however; and we urge the government to take 
those steps.
  Members of all of these religious communities in Romania have 
immigrated to the United States over the past century and even before, 
and most of the Members of this Congress have constituents who have 
expressed concern to us about these issues. Mr. Speaker, this 
resolution reflects the legitimate interests and concerns of American 
citizens. Let me also add that since Romania is now a member of NATO, 
it has an urgent responsibility and an extra responsibility to perform 
its responsibilities. We in the United States are looking to Romania as 
a NATO member, a fellow NATO member, to now act accordingly.
  Mr. Speaker, as a cosponsor of this resolution, I urge my colleagues 
to support it.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be a cosponsor 
of this bill, and I commend Mr. Lantos and Mr. Tancredo for bringing 
this matter before the Congress. The process of providing restitution 
or compensation for property confiscated by former regimes in Romania 
has been slow, complicated and difficult. We have raised concerns about 
this with Romanian authorities for many years now.
  As of July 2003, more than 200,000 claims for property restitution 
had been filed in Romania by individuals, and more than 7,000 claims 
had been filed by religious denominations and communal groups. As the 
bill indicates, the historic Hungarian churches--including the 
Evangelical Lutheran, Hungarian Reformed, Roman Catholic and 
Unitarian--lost more than 2,000 schools, hospitals, orphanages and 
other institutions under the communist regime in Romania.
  Jewish communal properties were decimated by the Fascist regime that 
ruled Romania during World War II, and those confiscations were 
reaffirmed by the postwar communist government. Mr. Speaker, the status 
of more than 1700 Jewish communal properties remains unresolved.
  Further, the plight of Romania's Greek Catholic (Uniate) Church, 
which was banned by the communist government in 1948, is particularly 
distressful. More than 2,000 churches and other buildings seized from 
the Uniates were given to Orthodox parishes. The government decree that 
dismantled the Greek Catholic Church was abrogated in 1989; however, 
fewer than 200 of their confiscated properties have been returned.
  Mr. Speaker, I was pleased that the new government of Romania 
recently announced the creation of the National Authority for Property 
Restitution to implement Romania's property restitution laws, and it is 
my understanding that next week a legislative package designed to 
remedy these property issues is expected to be introduced. Apparently 
special attention will be paid to properties once belonging to 
religious communities and national minorities. The goal is for all 
outstanding claims to be resolved by the end of 2006. This would be a 
welcomed achievement.
  For 15 years, these property claims have been a source of anguish and 
frustration for so many Romanians. The political will being 
demonstrated by President Basescu and his government is commendable. 
Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues in this action today, encouraging the 
Romanian authorities to provide equitable, prompt, and fair restitution 
of the confiscated properties.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 191 and I 
commend Mr. Lantos and Mr. Tancredo for bringing the issue of property 
restitution in Romania before the Congress.
  More than 15 years since the fall of the communist regime in Romania, 
tens of thousand of claims for the restitution of, or compensation for, 
property remain unresolved. This situation is a source of anger and 
resentment for many citizens and, in my view, a destabilizing factor in 
Romanian society.
  To date, more than 200,000 individual claims for property restitution 
have been filed with only 15,000--or 7 percent--resolved. The situation 
for religious and communal properties is equally as dismal. Of the more 
than 7500 claims for communal properties, less than 600 have been 
approved for restitution.
  The resolution before us addresses the plight of religious and 
communal properties in Romania.
  Jewish citizens of Romania suffered the appropriation of all of their 
personal and communal property by the fascist regime that ruled the 
country during World War II, only to have these confiscations confirmed 
by the post-war communist government that ruled Romania until the fall 
of Ceausescu in 1989. To date, the status of more than 1700 Jewish 
communal properties remains unresolved.
  Romania's Greek Catholic (Uniate) Church has essentially been caught 
in a ``catch twenty-two'' for the past decade and a half. The Greek 
Catholic Church was banned by the communist government in 1948 and more 
than 2,000 churches and other buildings seized from them were given to 
Orthodox parishes. In 1989, the government of Romania annulled the 
earlier decree, yet to date, fewer than 200 of the Greek Catholic 
properties have been returned to the community. Successive Romanian 
administrations have maintained that even though it was a government 
decree that confiscated the Greek Catholic property, the government has 
no responsibility to secure the return of those properties to the 
community.

[[Page H3732]]

  I am advised that the new government of Romania under President 
Basescu is taking administrative steps to resolve this crisis as soon 
as possible and that draft legislation to rectify the shortcomings of 
current law will be introduced in the near future. I urge the 
government of Romania to act expeditiously and to ensure a fair and 
equitable property restitution regime for all of its citizens.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I want to acknowledge the cooperation of our 
distinguished colleague from Colorado, a member of the International 
Relations Committee, Mr. Tancredo, for his excellent cooperation and 
work in behalf of H. Res. 191. I also want to thank my friend Chairman 
Henry Hyde for his support in bringing this resolution to the floor 
today.
  It is unconscionable, Mr. Speaker, that a decade and a half after the 
end of the communist regime in Romania we are still dealing with the 
problem of the restitution of religious property. The communist 
government in Romania, as well as communist governments elsewhere in 
Central and Eastern Europe, wanted no challenge to their authority, and 
throughout that area all religious groups were systematically and 
meticulously brought under government control. As part of that process, 
most religious properties were confiscated by the communist governments 
for state or party use. In Romania, that amounted to the government 
seizure of literally thousands of religious schools, hospitals, 
orphanages, and other properties that religious communities used for 
charitable and humanitarian purposes.
  With the fall of the communist governments in 1989, new democratic 
governments have had to deal with the restitution of this property to 
the religious communities. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, the process in 
Romania has been slower and less equitable than most other post-
communist countries. A series of Romanian governments since 1990 have 
failed to achieve a successful and fair resolution of this problem, 
which the European Court of Human Rights and the Commission on Security 
and Cooperation in Europe both have criticized. Resolution 191 urges 
the recently elected government to take the initiative and work to 
solve religious property restitution.
  Mr. Speaker, after Congressman Tancredo and I introduced this 
resolution, the recently elected government of Romania adopted 
legislation to deal with some of the issues that our resolution 
discusses, and we welcome that effort. Legislation, as we have seen, is 
not necessarily the solution to the problem. It will require active and 
continuing efforts on the part of the government to solve these 
problems, and we urge Romanian officials to work actively and 
aggressively to take the steps necessary to deal with restitution in a 
fair and equitable manner.
  This problem essentially involves all of the religious communities in 
Romania other than the Romanian Orthodox Church.
  The Jewish community saw communal properties confiscated by the 
Fascist Romanian government beginning in 1940, and these seizures were 
reaffirmed by the communist government when it came power after 1944. 
Today over 1,000 Jewish communal properties remain under Romanian 
government control, properties have not been restored to communal 
ownership, and no rent or compensation is being paid to the community 
for their continued use.
  The four historic Hungarian religious communities--the Roman 
Catholic, the Hungarian Reformed, the Evangelical Lutheran, and the 
Unitarian churches--lost over 2,000 schools and other buildings used 
for charitable and humanitarian activities. Possession and use of these 
properties by government entities continues today in all but about 
thirty instances.
  The Greek Catholic Church in Romania is one of the most complicated 
and clearly one of the most frustrating cases. In 1948, the Greek 
Catholic Church, which recognizes the authority of the Pope in Rome but 
uses the Greek Orthodox liturgy, was forcibly merged with the Romanian 
Orthodox Church, and its properties were merged as well or seized by 
the government. In 1990 the decree of 1948 was abrogated, but 
untangling the properties after more than a generation has been 
extremely difficult.
  Mr. Speaker, we have seen Romanian governments delaying and 
postponing restitution, the Romanian courts have reversed cases that 
had already been resolved, and inaction by government officials have 
prevented equitable resolution of the vast majority of these property 
claims. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the actions of 
various Romanian governments in religious property restitution cases in 
the mid-1990s ``violated the European Convention on Human Rights.''
  Our resolution calls upon the Romanian Government to respect and 
resolve these religious restitution cases in a fair, prompt and 
equitable manner. In the case of the Greek Catholic Church, it calls 
upon the government to amend fundamentally the legislation establishing 
a commission for resolution of conflicting claims. In cases where 
property cannot be restituted within a period of one year, our 
resolution calls for fair compensation until the restitution can be 
carried out.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of our colleagues to support this 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.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) that the House suspend the 
rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 191, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the resolution, as amended, was 
agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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