Action filed by the claimants RC Alba Iulia Archdiocese and SRCT Foundation, against the defendant the Romanian Government – the Special Commission of retrocession of certain immovable assets which were owned by the Romanian religious denominations.

CONTENCIOS ADMINISTRATIV ŞI FISCAL

Abstract

The Agreement of Rome, published in Acta Apostolicae Sedis and in the Official Journal of Bucharest, respectively on 1 July and 3 August 1932 has never been ratified by the Parliament, since it was assigned the nature of an interpretative document of the Concordat. The content of the Decree no. 151 dated 19 July 1948, for the termination of the Concordat, expressly refers to the „subsequent agreements and covenants, intervened in the application of that concordat”, these regulations being expressly terminated and subsequently repealed. C. J. E. U. ruled – with reference to the termination and repeal of the concordat and of the subsequent agreements, by Decree no. 151 dated 19 July 1948 – that the G. E. O. no. 13/1998 regarding the restitution of certain immovable assets which were owned by the communities of citizens belonging to the national minorities of Romania, shall be classified into the category of the obligations previously assumed by the Romanian State toward the Holy See. As such, the obligations assumed by the Romanian State in the interwar period are applicable, and therefore, the termination and subsequently, the repealing of the treaties to which Romania is a party shall not be relevant, in this respect, the change of the government form and of the political regime of Romania, and the Romanian State is liable, according to the „pacta sunt servanda” principle, to observe its own obligations assumed under international conventions. The circumstance that, regarding the assets owned by the fund, a series of acts of disposal have been executed, on behalf of the fund, by entities belonging to the Roman-Catholic Cult, does not represent any proof of the ownership right over the assets of the funds; under the circumstances in which, in the light of the hereinabove considerations, the ownership right over the assets owned by the funds (even if they are in the possession and under the management of the Status Romano – Catholicus Transylvaniensis), is and remains guaranteed in favour of the respective funds – Article V paragraph 2 of the Agreement of Rome.