Test of truth for Fondul Proprietatea

Fondul Proprietatea (Property Fund- FP), the biggest political project of the last decade, is listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange today. Has it been worth it or not for the state to give up stakes in some of its most valuable assets to compensate former owners?

People who played a key role in the Fund’s existence or who put their name to the laws that regulate the operation of the Fund have been asked by ZF if, by listing, FP has fulfilled the purpose for which it was created: compensating former owners.
Compensating people who were stripped of their properties by the communist regime, which cannot be returned in kind any more, was the purpose declared by the Government led by Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu (Premier between 2004 and 2008) when he signed the “birth certificate” of Fondul Proprietatea on December 28th 2005.
Over the next few years, the two finance ministers Sebastian Vlădescu (from 2005 until 2007) and Varujan Vosganian (2007-2008) approved a set of laws and emergency ordinances meant to make the procedure of compensation through shares more efficient and to supplement the capital of the Fund with valuable assets for the Romanian economy.
The good intentions of the first few years of existence of the Fund were, however, not enough, because the shares received from the Fund were until not long ago no more than worthless papers for the former owners because there was no transparent and regulated market for them to sell their shares and collect their compensations.
“The purposes of listing the Fund on the Stock Exchange are: to give some weight to the Bucharest Stock Exchange, bring dynamism to the Fund, which will this way become a strong financial institution, and to allow people entitled to compensation to find a counterparty on the Stock Exchange and collect their compensations. To what degree this purpose of awarding compensation will be fulfilled will be apparent in the Stock Exchange price,” said Varujan Vosganian, member of the PNL (National Liberal Party) and former finance and economy minister in the Tăriceanu Government.