The government no longer wants to pay cash to former property owners

The government said that it no longer wants to compensate former owners whose properties were confiscated before "89, by paying them cash, instead wanting to offer them shares in the Proprietatea Fund, over the next two years, according to an emergency decree ordinance.

The current legislation provides that former owners are entitled to receive compensations in cash of up to 500,000 lei, and to receive shares in the Proprietatea Fund for any amounts which exceed that figure.

The plan for the Proprietatea Fund to compensate former owners using shares exclusively, was discussed two months ago by the joint ministry working group, at the suggestion of Cynthia Curt, counselor to the prime minister, said Marius Murgu, the vice-president of the Union of Former Homeowners.

"The proposal isn"t bad, but it creates inequity, as some people will receive large dividends from the Proprietatea Fund, whereas former owners will not be paid anything by the National Authority for the Restitution of Properties. We were advising owners to choose shares over cash, because they would have had to wait for as much as two years until they got the money, whereas they would have received the shares much faster", Marius Murgu said.

He said that the ANRP has received over 65,000 application from former owners requesting compensation. Murgu said that out of the 65,000 cases, just a few thousands are currently being processed, because the clerks of the ANRP are relatively slow.

"In the near future, I expect the mayoralties and prefectures will send in an additional 60,000 files which will require solving. We have asked for an estimate, but we did not receive any information in this respect", said Marius Murgu.

Until now, the ANRP would only pay out the compensation installments out of the dividends that the Ministry of Finance received from the Proprietatea Fund, and any remaining amounts would be paid out by the state budget.