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Rosia Montana's UNESCO Heritage nomination - postponed
The World Heritage Committee on Monday decided in Manama, Bahrain, to delay the nomination of the Rosia Montana Mining Cultural Landscape with the UNESCO Heritage, upon the Romanian Government's Request, by saying that the proposal was grounded and a rational one, considering the Romanian state's interests.
Minister of Culture and National Identity George Ivascu specified that the Government has requested the postponement and not the withdrawal of the file from UNESCO, until the solving of the litigation in the pending arbitrage file.
"During the debates, after the presentation of the motivation by the Romanian Government, which requested the delay, the representatives of several states decided that the request was justified. Thus, the representative of Spain stated that he supported the delay proposal, if from a legal perspective this decision was going to trigger the best results for Romania in the arbitrage file, while the representative of Indonesia stated that, after analyzing the documentation, he appreciated Romania's decision as justified and also "unusual, but admirable," reads a release remitted to AGERPRES on Monday by the MCIN.
"At the same time, the Chinese representative presented a similar case, regarding the delay of a nomination by Canada on the occasion of the 40th session of the World Heritage Committee, which was held in Turkey, and that Romania's request was not a first.
"As I said after the meeting of the CSAT (Supreme Council for Country Defence) which I've informed about this sensitive and very important issue for Romania, we, the PSD (Social Democratic party) -ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats) government, were not and we are not ready to pay out of the citizens' pockets the more than 4 billion US dollars that could be lost in the litigation. Therefore, the Romanian Government requested the postponement and not the withdrawal of the file from UNESCO, until the litigation in the arbitrage file no. ARB/15/31 - Rosia Montana, in which the law firm representing the Romanian state submitted its defense with the Washington Court of Arbitrage on February 22, 2018, reached its conclusion" stated the Minister of Culture.
He also added that the decision was rational and confirmed the Government's actions as grounded.
"On the other hand, I regret that, both in the country and abroad, including here, in Manama, the issue was treated of a propagandistic manner, while people forget that the Rosia Montana topic must be treated seriously and with patriotism, as exactly what it is: a national security priority. This is a very serious matter that the former dignitaries of the Romanian state preferred to make lobby with other states against Romania's interests," said George Ivascu.
The single state who first opposed the delay of the nomination of the Rosia Montana Mining Cultural Landscape with UNESCO was Hungary.
Former premier Dacian Ciolos wrote on Sunday evening on his Facebook page that through suspending the UNESCO registration of the Rosia Montana site, the gov't "is depriving this area of a hard to top promotion and development instrument."
"Rosia Montana is one of the most attractive places I know. A place millions of tourists might fall in love with. By requesting the suspension of the inclusion of the Rosia Montana mining cultural landscape on the UNESCO World Heritage List, the government is depriving this area of a hard to top development and promotion instrument. Thus the gov't is transforming Rosia Montana in a prisoner of a process the very those who constitute today the political majority have triggered and complicated," Dacian Ciolos wrote.
He also specified that at present, the heritage law in Romania protects the respective site and "this protection cannot be called into question by any commitment a politician or the other have taken in the state's name."
"At present, the heritage law in Romania is protecting this site and this protection cannot be called into question by any commitment a politician or the other have taken in the state's name, disregarding this reality. The UNESCO recognition is made based upon this legislation in force with or without the international protection 'suspended' today by PSD-ALDE [Social Democratic Party-Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, e.n.]. The UNESCO protection would however grant Rosia Montana an unparalleled promotion means for a durable economic and social development," Dacian Ciolos further showed.