VZCZCXRO1290
RR RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHBM #1884/01 3551258
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 211258Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5753
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BUCHAREST 001884 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/NCE - AARON JENSEN 
STATE FOR DRL - OLIVIA L HILTON 
STATE FOR EUR/OHI - JOHN P BECKER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/20/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL DRL RO
SUBJECT: ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT PASSES RELIGION LAW 
 
Classified By: DCM Mark Taplin for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (SBU) The Romanian Parliament in plenary session passed on 
December 13 a new religion law that has provoked criticism 
from human rights NGOs and the Helsinki Commission.  It was 
approved by 220 deputies out of 224 present.  It appears 
similar to an earlier draft that was withdrawn in March 2006. 
 It calls for establishment of a three-tiered system for 
registering religious groups that discriminates against 
minority religions and includes a requirement that religious 
groups have 12 years of uninterrupted activity before 
becoming a recognized religion.  In addition, the law 
requires religious groups already registered to submit to 
re-registration and imposes tougher conditions for the 
registration of religious associations than for other kinds 
of civic associations.  The law could also hinder the 
restitution of religious properties currently in the hands of 
the Orthodox Church back to the Greek Catholic Church, as 
these properties may no longer be subject to court rulings. 
The law also includes a provision that forbids "religious 
defamation" as well as any public offense to religious 
symbols -- the article in the law that has attracted the most 
negative attention in Romania to date. 
 
¶2. (C) Poloffs expressed concern about the religion law in a 
meeting on December 13 with Brandusa Predescu, MFA Director 
for OSCE, Council of Europe, and Human Rights.  We noted the 
draft law's possible impact on religious freedom and noted 
that parliament appeared ready to pass the law despite the 
concerns of some human rights groups and minority religions. 
Predescu said she was sensitive to the human rights concerns 
surrounding the draft law but argued that she could not 
imagine Romania taking a negative step affecting  religious 
freedom on the eve of EU accession. She was also sensitive to 
the possible impact of passage of the religion law on 
Romania's desire to host an OSCE conference on Tolerance in 
¶2007.  Poloffs also raised Embassy concerns with the law with 
parlimentary leaders from leading political parties, 
including PD, PNL, and PSD. 
 
¶3. (C) DCM also dicussed the issue with Amb. Teodor 
Baconschi, chief political advisor to President Basescu, in a 
phone call on December 15.  (Baconschi, the former 
second-ranking official at the MFA and former Romanian 
ambassador to the Vatican, is one of the country's leading 
theological scholars.) Baconschi agreed to meet after he and 
we had had an opportunity to examine the final version of the 
law passed by parliament.  He said he was prepared to convey 
our concerns and to take them to President Basescu for his 
consideration.  Baconschi added that he had an overall 
positive view of the law, as Romania had been waiting to 
replace the Ceaucescu-era religion law for the past 17 years. 
 He added that if there existed "a positive consensus" about 
the law, the President would likely sign it.  Baconschi noted 
that the President can only return the law to Parliament for 
revision once, and that he could therefore not do so lightly. 
 
 
¶4. (SBU) Areas of concern in the new law include: 
 
--Establishment of three tiers of religious organizations 
conferring different levels of privilege to the different 
tiers. 
 
--In order to have full status, a religion must prove that 
"it is constituted legally and has been functioning as a 
religious association on the territory of  Romanian for 12 
years." 
 
--Religions must have a membership of "Romanian citizens 
residing in Romania equal to at least 0.1 per cent of the 
population" based upon the latest census.  We understand that 
the threshold is much higher than most European countries, 
which typically have no thresholds or extremely low 
thresholds. 
 
--Religious associations must be made up of at least 300 
people who are Romanian citizens or residents.  This number 
is significantly higher then the requirement for other kinds 
of civic association under Romanian law. 
 
--Prohibitions against "any forms, means, acts, or actions of 
religious defamation" as well a vaugely worded prohibition 
against "public offense to religious symbols."  Some NGOs and 
media commentators fear this provision of the law, Article 
13, could be used to block criticism or critiques of religion 
in Romania, thus violating provisions of the Romanian 
constitution guaranteeing freedom of expression. 
 
 
BUCHAREST 00001884  002 OF 002 
 
 
--A requirement that "patrimony disputes among recognized 
religions be solved amicably, or, if this is not possible, 
according to the common right."  This article does not 
mention allowing for judicial review and could enable the 
Orthodox Church to retain possession of Greek Catholic 
properties seized in 1948 more easily. 
 
--The law lists 18 religions in its appendix.  Article 49(2) 
requires that within twelve months from the date this law is 
effective that all of these relgions resubmit their 
documentation to the Ministry of Culture and Religious 
Affairs in order to be recognized as Religions.  Some critics 
argue that it would have been better to grandfather these 18 
religions than require they submit to a new bureaucratic 
process. 
 
¶5. (C) Comment: Embassy hopes to meet with Presidential 
Counselor Baconschi to discuss our concerns before the 
holidays.  At this point the only apparent remedies are for 
President Basescu to return the law to parliament for 
revisions during his 20 day review period or for the law's 
constitutionality to be challenged in the Constitutional 
Court.  The apparent near unanimity in the Dec. 13 vote in 
favor of the law suggests it would be politically 
uncomfortable for President Basescu to force the Parliament 
to take a second look.  End Comment. 
TAUBMAN