Fondul Proprietatea (Property Fund- FP), the biggest politicalproject of the last decade, is listed on the Bucharest StockExchange today. Has it been worth it or not for the state to giveup stakes in some of its most valuable assets to compensate formerowners?
People who played a key role in the Fund's existence or who puttheir name to the laws that regulate the operation of the Fund havebeen asked by ZF if, by listing, FP has fulfilled the purpose forwhich it was created: compensating former owners.
Compensating people who were stripped of their properties by thecommunist regime, which cannot be returned in kind any more, wasthe purpose declared by the Government led by CălinPopescu-Tăriceanu (Premier between 2004 and 2008) when he signedthe "birth certificate" of Fondul Proprietatea on December 28th2005.
Over the next few years, the two finance ministers SebastianVlădescu (from 2005 until 2007) and Varujan Vosganian (2007-2008)approved a set of laws and emergency ordinances meant to make theprocedure of compensation through shares more efficient and tosupplement the capital of the Fund with valuable assets for theRomanian economy.
The good intentions of the first few years of existence of the Fundwere, however, not enough, because the shares received from theFund were until not long ago no more than worthless papers for theformer owners because there was no transparent and regulated marketfor them to sell their shares and collect theircompensations.
"The purposes of listing the Fund on the Stock Exchange are: togive some weight to the Bucharest Stock Exchange, bring dynamism tothe Fund, which will this way become a strong financialinstitution, and to allow people entitled to compensation to find acounterparty on the Stock Exchange and collect their compensations.To what degree this purpose of awarding compensation will befulfilled will be apparent in the Stock Exchange price," saidVarujan Vosganian, member of the PNL (National Liberal Party) andformer finance and economy minister in the TăriceanuGovernment.
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