Author Mark A. Meyer is Chairman, Romanian-American Chamber of Commerce

Just as the Romanian government cannot take back a farm that was restituted to the family from whom it was stolen without paying its fair value, so it cannot confiscate another family's right to receive a different farm in restitution by payment of a mere pittance of its true value. But that is precisely what the Romanian Government contemplates doing through a draft law that would confiscate 85% of the property rights of thousands of victims of Romanian communism and fascism - inviolable rights that were granted to them twelve years ago by law. The Draft Law proposes to take 85% of the value of all pending claims by owners of properties that were seized by Romania's Communist government between 1945 and 1989 without compensation. It is proffered in total disregard of Romania's constitutional provisions prohibiting such acts and in violation of Protocol One of the European Convention of Human Rights to which Romania is a signatory and which recognizes property rights as human rights.

The Draft Law stems from the European Court of Human Rights ("ECHR") pilot judgment against Romania in Maria Atanasiu et. Alt. v. Romania, dated October 12, 2010, in which the ECHR gave Romania 18-months, ending on July 12, 2012, to find and implement a coherent, equitable and effective mechanism for compensating the victims of communism. Instead, the government now proposes to confiscate virtually the entire value of the rights that were given to the victims of communism by law in February 2001. While the ECHR decision contemplates reasonable limitations on restitution awards, that determination does not permit confiscation of actual property rights in violation of the Convention and the Romanian Constitution. Indeed, Article 44 of the Romanian Constitution enshrines the right of private property wh