Land Purchase in Romania
Following the rejection by President Traian Basescu of the bill on the sale and purchase of farmland outside city boundaries in Romania by individual persons, the government has come up with a revised version of the bill.
Mihai Pelin, 16.01.2014, 12:40
Romania is very attractive for foreign investors wishing to purchase land, while its 14 million hectares of farmland are estimated at around 26 billion euros. Unlike in other European states, the price of land in Romania continues to be relatively low.
Under the country’s EU Accession Treaty, EU citizens may purchase farmland in Romania starting this year without any restrictions. To regulate these purchases, the government came up with a special bill, which was, however, rejected by president Traian Basescu a week ago.
The government has therefore revised the bill and its new version stipulates, among others, that land cannot be sold for less than what is stipulated in the sale offer, while the sale of surface areas larger than 30 hectares must be approved by a special, newly created body.
The Agency of State Property will be maintained, and it will have priority in the purchase of land. Following the observations made by president Traian Basescu, the sale of land may be cancelled if it does not reflect the conditions in the sale offer. The title of the law will also be changed so as to refer explicitly to land located outside city boundaries and make it clear that it applies both to individual and legal persons.
The agricultural minister, Daniel Constantin, said he did his best to see the bill passed by Parliament as soon as possible: “It is a very important subject of national interest. It is important to pass this law as soon as possible, so that Romanian citizens from the local communities have the chance to be the first to purchase farmland and be able to consolidate their holdings.”
The new law on the sale of farmland in Romania is also of interest for the authorities in the neighbouring Hungary. Recently, the official responsible for agriculture with the Hungarian Embassy in Bucharest said the Hungarian state was allegedly preparing a programme to purchase farmland in central Romania, which sparked a lot of controversy. European officials were quick to react.
The European Commissioner for Agriculture, the former Romanian agriculture minister, Dacian Ciolos emphasised that Romania would not create a land policy based on ethnic discrimination, which would run counter to European principles. He also gave assurances that the Romanian state has the necessary instruments to retain control of its own land, agricultural and rural development policy.
