ROȘIA MONTANĂ IN UNESCO, NOBLE INTENTIONS OR A HIT TO THE NATIONAL INTEREST?

“Gold means money. Everything else means credit. ”- J.P. Morgan

The inclusion of Roșia Montană in UNESCO hides an anti-economic approach underneath the aura of nobility, which aims to block the capitalization by the Romanian State of the largest gold and silver resource in Europe worth tens of billions of USD and, according to Q Magazine sources close to the intelligence community, a potential reward for the agents of influence with the millions of euros from the future restoration works in Roșia Montană.

CHRONOLOGY AND STATUS QUO

On December 30, 2015, the Minister of Culture, Vlad Alexandrescu, announces on his Facebook page – with a share to the NGOs militant against the mining project – the declaring of Roșia Montană a Category A archeological site, of national importance.

After the reshuffle of Vlad Alexandrescu, the new minister, Corina Șuteu, accelerates the preparation of the UNESCO file, finalizing it in record time, although, for example, “The Monumental Ensemble Constantin Brancuși from Tg. Jiu” and “The Historic Center of Sibiu” have been waiting for over 10 years to be promoted.

On October 26, 2016, Roșia Montană is included on the UNESCO indicative list, the intention to submit the UNESCO file being criticized by the Minister of Justice, Raluca Prună, who posted on Corina Şuteu’s Facebook page the following message on December 26, 2016: “It would be wise to not make any decision. The submission of the file by the Romanian state is a position that comes in handy in the arbitration procedure. For the investor in question and to the detriment of the state”. The post was deleted in less than two hours.

On January 4, 2017, the day the Tudose Government took the oath of office, the former Minister of Culture, Corina Șuteu, illegally sent the UNESCO file to Paris, without government approval and without the approval of the ministries of competence, the illegality of this undertaking being noted by an internal report of the Directorate for European Relations within the Ministry of Culture and publicly criticized by the Foreign Minister Theodor Meleșcanu.

On July 2, 2018, amid the international arbitration between the two shareholders in the Roșia Montană Mining Project, Gabriel Resources (80%) and the Romanian State (20%), the Dăncilă Government requests the UNESCO World Committee to suspend the procedure for registration of Roșia Montană in UNESCO, in order not to harm the state’s defense in the ICSID arbitration and avoid the cost of $ 4.4 billion requested by Gabriel Resources.

On 31 January 2020, in the middle of the suspension period, the Orban Government yields to the pressure from USR PLUS and decides to resume the UNESCO classification procedure, although the ICSID arbitration was ongoing.

The online meeting of the UNESCO World Committee – originally scheduled to take place in July 2020 in Fuzhou, China but postponed due to the Covid 19 pandemic – will take place between 16 and 31 July 2021, during which the registration of Roșia Montană in UNESCO will be approved.

WHAT UNESCO SAYS: THE STATE WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO EXPLOIT THE GOLD DEPOSIT FROM ROȘIA MONTANĂ

On June 4, 2021, the UNESCO World Committee published the agenda of the meeting that will take place online from 16 to 31 July 2021, one of the items on the agenda of the meeting being the approval of Roșia Montană in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The draft decision, which will be approved at the UNESCO meeting, will force Romania to stop approving the current mining project, owned by Gabriel Resources and the Romanian State, and to urgently develop urban plans to ban any other future mining projects in Roșia Montană.

In other words, once Roșia Montană is enlisted in UNESCO, Romania’s largest gold resource will be permanently blocked, and the Romanian state, with or without Gabriel Resources, will never be able to capitalize on the gold resource at Roșia Montană.

Coincidentally or not, the same ruling says that Roșia Montană will be included not only in the UNESCO list but also in the “List of UNESCO Monuments in Danger”, which includes, for example, the Buddha Statue in Afghanistan, blown up by the Taliban in 2001.

WHAT IS THE OPINION OF THE LAWYERS REPRESENTING ROMANIA IN ARBITRATION

The lawyers representing Romania in the arbitration case in Washington, „Lalive and Leaua”, have sent a letter to the Romanian Government on 2016, recommending refraining from promoting the listing of Roșia Montana in UNESCO.

The state attorneys have drawn attention to the fact that the application for the listing of Roșia Montana in UNESCO could cause Romania major problems arising from the violation of Romania’s international treaties with Canada and Great Britain and that there is a significant risk that the UNESCO listing will lead to burdensome Romanian State losses by the ICSID tribunal.

Sources close to the Ministry of Finance told Q Magazine that a new letter from state lawyers was sent to the Government, recommending the withdrawal of the UNESCO file, as to avoid losing the dispute with Gabriel Resources, listing Roșia Montană in UNESCO being equivalent to expropriating the mining project.

WHAT IS THE OPINION OF THE GOVERNMENT

Sources close to the Government, stated exclusively for Q Magazine, that the only thing on which Prime Minister, Florin Cîțu, and PNL President, Ludovic Orban, agree now, is that the Roșia Montană file in UNESCO must be withdrawn, in order to avoid the loss of the arbitration with Gabriel Resources and the blocking of the Roșia Montană gold deposit exploitation.

The same sources stated that the former Minister of Finance, Alexandru Nazare, presented in the last government meetings a memorandum based on economic risk calculations and the opinion of the state lawyers, requesting the withdrawal of the UNESCO file. The USR PLUS ministers opposed the withdrawal proposal but also the discussion of the memorandum in the government meeting, in order not to have their position recorded in writing and not to be held accountable for not taking the necessary measures to avoid losing the arbitration by the Romanian state.

The pressure from USR PLUS ministers forced Prime Minister, Florin Cîțu, to discuss this institutional document only during the coalition meeting, where PNL and UDMR supported the withdrawal of the UNESCO listing file, but USR PLUS representatives opposed, threatening to leave governance in case of file withdrawal.

WHAT THE UNESCO FILE HIDES

Sources inside the Ministry of Culture told Q Magazine that the UNESCO listing file contains illegalities that call into question the entire process of listing Roșia Montană in UNESCO and should cause ex officio inquisitions from the judicial authorities and that the National Heritage Institute, which manages the UNESCO issue, is a “state-in-state” institution, that although subordinated to the Ministry of Culture, the current Minister of Culture is unable to control it.

The priority of the National Heritage Institute is the enlisting of Roșia Montană in UNESCO, due to pressure from director Ștefan Bâlici, who was previously a consultant to the mining company Roșia Montană Gold Corporation and the Soros Foundation, and who is said to be directly interested in awarding future restoration works from Roșia Montană to the company OPUS and the Association ARA – Architecture. Restoration. Archeology, in which he has financial interests.

Ștefan Bâlici is supported by Sergiu Nistor, Presidential Adviser, both of whom teach at the Department of Urbanism at Ion Mincu University, and are part of ICOMOS, the non-governmental organization that analyzes and proposes UNESCO sites.

WHAT THE MINISTER OF CULTURE SAYS

Bogdan Gheorghiu declared on Thursday, July 8, 2021, during the show “About Roșia Montană – THE THIRD WAY” with Liviu Mihaiu, broadcasted on Radio Guerilla, that the Ministry of Culture “can have no other position than to defend the heritage”, adding that “he knows that the arbitration process endangers the Romanian State from being obliged to pay a large sum and the lawyers who represent and advise the Ministry of Finance to imperatively request the withdrawal of the UNESCO file”.

Minister Gheorghiu added that “the Ministry of Finance says that if the UNESCO file is maintained, the state will pay 5 billion, and if it is withdrawn it will pay around 1 billion in compensation, this being the opinion of the lawyers.”

WHAT WE HAVE TO DO

The subject of mining in Roșia Montană has been intensely debated and publicized over time, with various opinions, protests, and political scandal, starting from the hysteria of cyanide technology (which by the way is successfully used in gold mining in Sweden, Finland, Spain, Greece, Bulgaria etc.) and the more recent “salt block story” that threatens the national heritage.

If the UNESCO file is not withdrawn, the inclusion of Roșia Montană in the World Heritage List will irreversibly affect Romania’s national interest, becoming one of the biggest losses recorded by the Romanian state throughout its history.

The Romanian government must urgently withdraw the UNESCO file, not only because Romania is in danger of losing billions of dollars in the process with Gabriel Resources, but to be able to capitalize on the largest gold resource it has of national interest at Roșia Montană, in parallel with the protection of the national heritage.