PM says Romania may try to revoke Rosia Montana’s UNESCO nomination (ISDS)

[FIDRICH Robert]

Unbelievable!

PM says Romania may try to revoke Rosia Montana’s UNESCO nomination

Prime Minister Mihai Tudose said that the Romanian state could no longer
exploit the deposits at Rosia Montana given that the previous Government
led by Dacian Ciolos sent the necessary documents to UNESCO to declare
the site a protected area.

Thus, the Romanian authorities may try to revoke Rosia Montana’s
nomination to the UNESCO World Heritage List, Tudose said, reports local
News.ro.

He also said that he does not believe that the Romanian state will lose
the lawsuit with Gabriel Resources, which is asking Romania damages of
USD 4.4 billion for having blocked the Rosia Montana mining project. The
Romanian state blocked the gold mining project at Rosia Montana
following massive street protests in 2013.

“They’re invoking a lot of investments made, but the investments made
in: saving the patrimony there, building a church, paying some people.
They have now drawn a line, put together all those expenses and said:
look how much we invested. Wait a minute. You said that you’ll invest in
mining, in digging for gold, not in TV commercials, roads, museums,”
Tudose said at local TV station Romania TV, reports News.ro.

He also added that former Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos should explain
the decision to ask UNESCO to declare Rosia Montana a protected area. He
argued that Romania would no longer be able to exploit the mineral
resources of Rosia Montana if this area was to be declared a protected
area, stating that the cancellation of the procedure initiated by the
Ciolos Government would be difficult to achieve.

“It’s difficult until they accept you, but once that’s done it’s almost
impossible to withdraw. We will try to withdraw, to write them that
we’re no longer maintaining our point of view, putting us in an
absolutely odd situation with the specialized international
institutions. If things remain final, everything is closed,” Tudose
said.

The Prime Minister’s statement came after Mihai Gotiu, a senator
representing the Save Romania Union (USR) party warned that the
Government is preparing the withdrawal of the Rosia Montana file from
UNESCO. He argued the Executive was trying to make an arrangement in the
Washington dispute to hide the truth about how Gabriel Resources spent
hundreds of millions of dollars in Romania with politicians, experts,
journalists and advertising and PR agencies who supported the mining
project.

Gotiu’s reaction came after local publication Adevarul published an
article that presents an opinion signed by an advisor in the ministry,
in which it is said that assuming the submission of the Rosia Montana
file to UNESCO by former culture minister Corina Suteu would affect
Romania’s chances in the Washington arbitration, where Gabriel Resources
is demanding USD 4.4 billion in damages. According to Gotiu, this is not
true as the inclusion in the World Heritage List would be the
international recognition at the highest possible level of the
exceptional value of the cultural and natural heritage of Rosia Montana.

Meanwhile, a protest is being organized on Facebook against the idea of
withdrawing Rosia Montana from the UNESCO list. The protest is to take
place in Bucharest this Friday. Moreover, thousands of people have
already signed an online petition called We are not giving up Rosia
Montana.


https://www.romania-insider.com/pm-rosia-montana-unesco-nomination/

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Robert FIDRICH (Fidusz)
MTVSZ/FoE Hungary
fid...@mtvsz.hu

[FIDRICH Robert]

Incredible!

"on August 21. 2017 the Romanian news agency ‘Agerpres’ published an
article disclosing that the very lawyers representing the Romanian
government in the arbitration case recommended Prime Minister Tudose to
abandon the arbitration and approve the Rosia Montana gold mine
instead."

https://www.rosiamontana.org/content/tudose-we-won-t-give-ro-ia-montan?language=en

Fidusz

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FIDRICH Róbert
MTVSZ/FoE Hungary
fid...@mtvsz.hu