2024-03-09 17:41:57
Mixed reactions appeared today in the Romanian media after the government announced that Romania had won the nine-year arbitration case with the Canadian company Gabriel Resources. She sought multibillion-dollar damages over a stalled investment project to mine gold and silver in Transylvania’s Roshia Montana area, a mountainous region containing some of the largest gold deposits in Europe.
The decision comes 25 years after Gabriel Resources received concession rights for the mining project, which provided for the extraction of gold and silver over a period of 16 years using technology using cyanide, reminds the Associated Press. The project caused concern over the effects on the environment, cultural heritage and the lives of the population in the area, and sparked a major wave of protests in the summer of 2013 when parliament was about to give it the go-ahead.
Eventually, in 2014, the government withdrew its support for it, and in 2015, Gabriel Resources filed a case against the Romanian state at the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). According to the company, 300 tons of gold and 1,600 tons of silver can be mined from the Roshia Montana deposit, and their value in 2013 was estimated at over 16 billion dollars, BTA reported.
In 2021, Roshia Montana – an ancient mining village with over 2,000 years of history, known for its Roman galleries – became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, making future development of the mine, especially with environmentally harmful technologies such as cyanide, almost impossible, the news outlets note.
The expected decision of the International Court of Arbitration in Washington became a central topic in the media already at the end of January, when unnamed government sources quoted by Digi 24 TV announced that Romania was expected to lose the case and be forced to pay compensation of over 2 billion dollars. This led to an exchange of mutual accusations between the current Social Democrat Prime Minister Marcel Çolaku and former technocrat Prime Minister Dacian Cholos, who in 2017 initiated the inclusion of Roshia Montana in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
As the date of the announcement of the court’s decision approached, comments from official representatives became more frequent, thickening the dark colors of the expected fiasco for the Romanian state. Towards the end of February, the government released a statement informing them that Gabriel Resources had requested compensation in the amount of about 6.7 billion dollars. Such an amount would be a severe test for Romania at a time when it is trying to control its excessive budget deficit, the media commented.
Finance Minister Marcel Bolosh specified on Thursday that the maximum amount requested by the investor is 6.7 billion dollars, and the minimum – “what they have invested”, that is, about one billion dollars. He noted that there is also the prospect of a “non-monetary settlement” that could be considered by the international arbitration court. “There is an opportunity not to pay anything, but to carry out the exploitation,” explained the minister, as quoted by Digi 24 TV. For his part, Prime Minister Marcel Cholaku said he would hold a referendum to see if Romanians agree to begin gold mining in the Roshia Montana zone.
Amidst these pessimistic predictions about the outcome of the case, the announcement late on Friday that Romania had won the arbitration dispute with Gabriel Resources and the company would have to pay the state the costs of the case, together with interest, came as a surprise, “after aiming “for weeks, the government has been sending signals that Romania will lose the trial and have to pay huge compensations,” notes the Hotnews site. The decision was welcomed by both Prime Minister Marcel Cholaku and President Klaus Iohannis.
“We won the “Roshia Montana” case. We fought for Romania because it was unfair that every employee and pensioner in this country should be punished for the atrocities of some anti-Romanians. We thank the team of lawyers who represented Romania with professionalism and honor. Romanians should not are suffering because of the decisions of the prime ministers who put personal interests above the national ones. I did not accept the looting of the anti-covid vaccines, I did not do it now. Well done, Romania,” wrote Prime Minister Marcel Çolaku on his official page on the social network Facebook.
President Iohannis congratulated the teams of specialists who worked on the case for their success. “I welcome Romania’s success in the Rosia Montana case and congratulate the teams of experts who participated with professionalism in upholding our cause in the international arbitration at ICSID. After many years of disputes and debates, both political and legal, today we are in the moment of truth: Romania wins the “Roshia Montana” case, without sanctions and compensations, fighting and succeeding in protecting its national heritage,” President Iohannis wrote on Facebook.
The opposition, however, showed that it did not share the euphoria of the rulers from the achieved success, and on the contrary – made serious accusations against them of “manipulating the stock market” and “undermining the national interests” of Romania and demanded their resignations.
In a material entitled “How the Government of Romania pleaded itself out in the Rosia Montana case and doubled the price of the shares of Gabriel Resources”, the website Hotnews notes that Romania won the case, but the Canadian company also benefited, significantly Cholaku’s government contributed.After the statements that a number of government officials, led by the prime minister, made to the press, the share price of Gabriel Resources doubled on the stock market, the publication noted, commenting that it was “totally unusual” for government officials to predict that the state will lose the case before the court has ruled and that it will have to pay billions of dollars in damages to a private company.
The leader of the opposition Union for the Salvation of Romania (SSR), Catalin Drula, who accused the ruling coalition of “hystericalizing Romania” with the Rosia Montana case, announced that the SSR had referred the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (NDBC) and the Canadian authorities for “stock exchange manipulation” by Prime Minister Marcel Cholaku and demanded his resignation.
“We will file a criminal complaint with the NDBK for manipulating the capital market and undermining the national economy, including the capital market regulator in Ontario, Canada, where Gabriel Resources, the company behind the Roshiya Montana project, is listed. because manipulation of the capital market means that some people have their money stolen on the basis of false claims,” stressed the leader of the SSR, quoted by Agerpress. In his words, the “irresponsible statements” of Prime Minister Çolaku and the ministers helped the sharp rise in the price of the company’s shares.
“Practically in just one month, based on the irresponsible statements of Marcel Cholaku, (Finance Minister) Marcel Bolosh and their party colleagues, the value of the stock has doubled. The Canadian company now has a market capitalization of over 800 million Canadian dollars, representing over 600 million (US) dollars. Almost entirely based on the disputes in Romania, the shareholders earned more than 300 million dollars,” Drula said in a statement, noting that “Colacu should also be investigated by the Romanian authorities.”
Former Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, who is currently an MEP and leader of the REPER party, demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu because of “premeditated actions against the interests of Romania”. He accused the prime minister of “spreading fake news about imaginary compensations” owed by the state in the Rosia Monatana case, and that his statements on this topic in recent months “have undermined and endangered the Romanian state.”
In a message from the REPER party, quoted by Agerpress, it is demanded the “immediate resignation” of Prime Minister Marcel Cholaku and Finance Minister Marcel Bolosh because of “undermining the economic and national interests” of Romania in the “Roshia Monatana” case.
“You lied, took advantage and mocked millions of Romanians, manipulating them. It’s time to take responsibility. Roşia Montana is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was saved thanks to Dacian Cholos, but you must be responsible for the damage, that you have inflicted on Romania all these years. Resign!”, urged RAPER co-chair Ramona Strugariu.
For his part, the leader of the Power of the Right party, Lidovik Orbán, said that “with his stupid statements” Prime Minister Marcel Çolaku could have provided arguments to the arbitrators for a decision unfavorable to the Romanian state in the case.
“It would have been normal for Călăcu’s statements to make it clear that there was no reason for the Romanian state to lose the trial and that the company’s claims were completely unfounded. Instead Călăcu gave the company a right, predicting the loss of the case and unfairly blaming correct politicians who did not have played the game of Gabriel Resources while occupying high positions in the state. With his stupid statements made precisely while the arbitrators were in the process of awarding, Çolaku could have provided them with arguments for a decision unfavorable to the Romanian state. Fortunately, Romania won” , Orban, who is a former prime minister of Romania, wrote on Facebook.
In turn, Prime Minister Marcel Çolaku responded to the accusations of his opponents with the line: “What stock market? Am I playing on the stock market? Maybe they are playing on the stock market, you know very well that they are playing. The problem is that they were playing with Romania’s money,” reports Digi 24 television. “I have not given any information, any document to the government, I have not given any motivation to influence the process,” the leader of the Social Democratic Party also pointed out. He added that he had not received any information from the lawyers regarding the case and was not entitled to such information despite being the head of government.
“I’m glad as prime minister that I don’t leave debts to our children, that we had the administrative capacity to win a trial. Those with the charges that left debts of 200 billion that we all pay, I can only tell them that they have another problem . We are already talking about pathology. On a historic day for Romania, when the lawyers engaged by the government managed to overturn a nearly lost trial, I have to answer charges (…) I win a trial and do not leave debts of billions of euros to Romania and I don’t bring an economic crisis to Romania and a collapse of the financial and macroeconomic system and I am accused of why I won the trial? Aren’t they ashamed!” reacted the Romanian Prime Minister.