- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 8 October 1988 (17th Sitting) (see Doc. 5963, report
of the Committee on the Environment, Regional Planning and Local
Authorities, Rapporteur : Mr Bota ; and Doc. 5934, opinion of the Committee
on Culture and Education, Rapporteur : Mr G. Müller). Text
adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of
the Assembly, on 17 November 1988
- Thesaurus
The Assembly
1. Deeply concerned by information which suggests that
the Romanian authorities are planning to destroy many villages and
to move, without consent, their inhabitants into urban settlements
which may be inappropriate ;
2. Acutely aware of the irreparable harm which such action could
inflict on individuals, on local religious and cultural traditions,
and on the architectural heritage of the Romanian countryside ;
3. Recognising that some of the villages in question may lack
decent living conditions and basic hygiene ;
4. Unable, however, to see any valid agricultural reason for
such plans, as all experience shows that collectivisation of farming
populations and operations leads to a reduction in individual motivation
and production ;
5. Having noted the resolution condemning such plans adopted
by Europa Nostra in Heidelberg (7 September 1988) ;
6. Recalling its own longstanding concern for the integrated
conservation of the architectural heritage, for minority languages
and for individual human rights, and noting its recent resolutions
on religious freedom in Eastern Europe (
Recommendation 1086 and
Resolution 908) and
on active measures to conserve and enhance the countryside (
Recommendation 1091) adopted
in the context of the European Campaign for the Countryside 1987-88
;
7. Recalling Resolution (85) 6 on European cultural identity,
adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on
25 April 1985 ;
8. Believing that the villages of Romania form part of the diversity
of a common European heritage, and that it is the responsibility
of all European countries to respect and help preserve this heritage,
9. Calls on the competent Romanian authorities, and in particular
on the Parliament of Romania with which the Assembly has engaged
a dialogue :
a to abandon any project
which involves the systematic destruction of villages or which fails
to respect both the rights of the minorities and the preservation
of their cultural, ethnic and religious identity ;
b to initiate public health and other programmes for the
protection of the environment and of the built heritage in these
villages ;
c to encourage independent family farming and the free marketing
of agricultural products, so as to raise production and allow rural
populations to remain on their land ;
10. Invites other international organisations, and notably Unesco,
to intensify their pressure on the Romanian authorities to this
end ;
11. Asks all European governments, East and West, to maintain
keen interest in the matter and to reconsider existing relations
with Romania if current plans persist or destruction proceeds
