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. 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

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. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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. 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.

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.

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. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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. 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.

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.