ST. JOSEF CATHEDRAL ROW GOES TO BRUSSELS Roman-Catholic Archdiocese asks the European Commission to monitor Romania"s Justice System

Alina Toma Vereha

The Ploieşti Court of Appeal last week-end ruled that the building permit for the 19-storey building near the St. Joseph Cathedral in Bucharest is valid. The cathedral is an architectural monument and part of Romania"s heritage). The ruling of the judges in Ploieşti comes after a long line of hearings won by the Roman-Catholic Archdiocese, which caused the construction works to be halted. "Once the building permit was voided by the Dâmboviţa Court, the Ploieşti, Court of Appeal surprisingly ruled that the building permit was valid and irrevocably rejected the request of the Roman-Catholic Archdiocese. The works that will destroy the Cathedral and the historical city can resume at any time", says a press release of the Archdiocese.

Ieronim Iacob, the spokesperson of the Archdiocese, said: "It is clear that the Romanian legal system isn"t working. We will notify the European Commission on this case and we will request the monitoring of Romania"s justice system. It beggars belief that after all the courts ruled in our favor, in just a few hours, the Court of Ploieşti issued a different ruling". He said that the lawyers of the Archdiocese will review all available options for challenging the ruling domestically and abroad and the Church will address the International Court for Human Rights.

The 19-floor high steel structure building, is located within 8 meters from the St. Joseph Cathedral, historical monument of national and universal value. Given the fire on the 18th floor office building near the Biserica Armenească (ed. note: Armenian Church - another historical monument), where firefighters found it extremely difficult to maneuver due to the positioning of the building, the danger for the St. Joseph Cathedral is obvious. According to the Archdiocese, the vicinity of a building of this height and its positioning at the junction of streets far narrower than in the Biserica Armenească area, further prove that St. Joseph"s cathedral runs a similar risk in the event of fire, perhaps even greater, due to its positioning in a far more confined area and it only has access to a single 7 meter-wide street.