CEDO goes in Roman Catholic Archdiocese’s favor

Roman Catholic Archdiocese prevailed at CEDO the Cathedral Plaza case, informed the Radio Romania editor , Izabela Ivăncesei.

After this decision, the giant building, built next to St. Joseph Church in the capital, would be dismantled.

European Court’s decision exempts the Romanian state to pay damages to the company Millennium Building which erected the building near the Roman Catholic Diocese without observing the legal distance between the buildings.

The property developer built without the notary agreement of the archdiocese and without expertise the cathedral before starting the work.

By rejecting the complaints of Cathedral Plaza developer, there is no longer a possibility of changing the favourable judgments for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest and neither the Romanian state has an obligation to the beneficiary of illegally constructed building, Cathedral Plaza.

Late last year, Millennium Estate Company, which has built a 18-floor building next to the Roman Catholic "Saint Joseph" in Bucharest, has filed a complaint against the Romanian State at CEDO.

The company claimed then the Romanian Justice’s decision to cancel the Cathedral Plaza building.

The history of legal conflict

The legal conflict between the Archdiocese and Millennium Building has lasted for five years, since the Municipality of District 1 had issued a building permit for a building with a height of 75 meters only 8 meters away from St. Joseph.

The Archdiocese appealed against the building permit in 2006.

After more displacements of the trial, Dâmboviţa Court ruled in favour of Archdiocese, declaring the license invalid, since it is in the proximity of a historical monument (St. Joseph), the institution which had to authorize the construction was not the District 1 City Hall, but the General Council of Bucharest.

Dâmboviţa Court’s decision was appealed by the Millennium Building at the Appeal Court in Ploiesti, where the authorization has been declared legally irrevocable.

As the decision was irrevocable, the Archdiocese has not left but to resort to extraordinary means of attack, i.e. the review application of Court’s decision in Ploiesti.

The request was judged at Suceava, and the decision was reviewed by a final decision, which means that Dâmboviţa Court’s decision that declared illegal building permit remained valid.

In turn, Millenium Hall Building and the District 1 City Hall demanded to review the reviewed sentence, but the Appeal Court Suceava did not rule in their favour, the last application being irrevocably rejected on July 11, 2011.

In parallel with the trial, the construction of office building continued, presently it is completed.

Translated by Alexandra-Diana Mircea
MTTLC, Bucharest University