VZCZCXRO8172
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSL RUEHSR RUEHVK
RUEHYG
DE RUEHBM #0527 2091224
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 281224Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9775
RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN PRIORITY 0004
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS BUCHAREST 000527 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/CE ASCHIEBE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
 
TAGS: PHUM SCUL PGOV PREL RO
 
SUBJECT: ROMANIA: CATHOLIC CHURCHES CLOSE TO PROTEST CONSTRUCTION 
NEXT TO CATHEDRAL 
 
REFTEL: 07 BUCHAREST 861 
 
¶1.  Summary. The Archbishop of Bucharest, with the purported support 
of the Vatican, ordered all Roman Catholic Churches in Bucharest 
closed on Sunday July 12th, except for Saint Joseph's Cathedral. 
There, a rally following Sunday mass attracted over 6,000 people to 
march on Victoria Palace, the Prime Minister's headquarters, in a 
protest against the destruction of Romania's national cultural 
heritage by real estate investors.  The protest stemmed from a 
recent court ruling restoring the construction permit for the 
Cathedral Plaza, a 19-story, 248 foot-high office building being 
built eight meters from the walls of the Cathedral.  The Roman 
Catholic Church has been fighting for years to stop construction, 
alleging that the entire process of acquiring the land and the 
construction permit violated a series of laws (reftel).  End 
Summary 
 
¶2.  On July 12, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest closed 
its churches and held a special service at Saint Joseph's to protest 
a June 25 court ruling allowing the resumption of construction works 
on a 19-story business center being built in close proximity to the 
Cathedral.  During his sermon, Archbishop Robu announced that this 
extraordinary action was being taken to "protest the manner in which 
the Catholic Church is treated by state authorities," mentioning 
also the Armenian Church and other historical monuments "damaged in 
Bucharest and in the country."  According to public reports, the 
Archbishop sought and received the Vatican's assent prior to 
announcing the protest. 
 
¶3.  The service attracted about 2,000 Catholic believers from 
Bucharest and several surrounding counties and was followed by a 
march of approximately 6,000 on Victoria Palace, the seat of the 
cabinet, where organizers presented a petition.  In addition to the 
Roman Catholic Archbishop, clergy and believers, representatives of 
civic NGOs and Bucharest residents of various faiths also joined in 
to voice their concern that modern construction had grown out of 
control in the city, threatening and even destroying many historical 
landmarks.  Organizers said this was the first of a series of 
protests that the Church will continue to sponsor. 
 
¶4.  Since the construction of Cathedral Plaza began in 2006, the 
Roman Catholic Church has tried hard to stop it, filing complaints 
with local, state and international authorities (reftel).  The 
Church alleged that both the land for the office building and its 
construction permit were illegally obtained, accusing two former 
mayors of Bucharest, Traian Basescu (the incumbent President) and 
Adriean Videanu (presently Minister of the Economy) of abetting the 
inappropriate allocation of land and issuance of a construction 
permit for the tower. 
 
¶5.  The Church argued that the cathedral was a historical monument 
and the area surrounding it is protected under the law, which 
requires the developer to seek the formal approval of the Church 
prior to construction.  Initially, the Church agreed in principle 
with the construction of the building in its neighborhood, but 
subsequently withdrew its approval following the developer's 
inability to produce technical data guaranteeing that the office 
building would not endanger the cathedral's structure.  This 
opposition strengthened following a survey by an Italian seismic 
institute which found that the new building would cause damage to 
the Cathedral in the event of an earthquake. 
 
¶6.  Construction on the new building had been stopped since 2007, 
with a county court annulling the construction permit in February 
¶2009.  The Church, however, lost when the developer appealed this 
ruling to the Court of Appeal in Ploiesti, which overturned the 
decision of the lower court. 
 
¶7.  Comment:  Dozens of buildings throughout Bucharest are meeting 
with the same fate as the Catholic Cathedral in a process that 
reminds many residents of Ceausescu's march toward modernization, 
when many of Bucharest's historic buildings were knocked down to fit 
his dream of an orderly Communist capitol.  More than anything else, 
the case highlights the low esteem that most Romanians hold toward 
the judiciary and public authorities.  The absence of proper zoning 
and persistent allegations of corruption make even the most basic 
land-use questions political, with neither side accepting decisions 
of either authorities or courts as final.  The tendency of Romanian 
appellate courts to re-adjudicate the decisions of lower courts 
means there is no disincentive (other than financial) to appeal 
every ruling.  Continued competition between the old and new is 
inevitable as Romania continues to struggle with rule-of-law issues 
and the disengagement that many Romanians feel from the political 
process.  End Comment.