Figures related to the restitution of properties confiscated by the communist regime place Romania last among Central and Eastern European countries in terms of restitution success. Over 50% of nationalized properties were sold to people who rented them under the first post-communist regime led by Ion Iliescu and only 15% of the nationalized properties were returned to their owners.
Meanwhile, only 1,650 Romanians have received money from the Proprietatea fund, a fund put up to compensate those who cannot get back their properties, according to a new report.
The report by the Romanian Academic Society, an NGO, says that should the current pace of restitution be maintained, the process would not be over within the next decade.
According to the report, more notifications of retrocession are concentrated in Bucharest, but out of 43,000 such cases only 9,000 received a sentence in the past eight years.
