The medical universities praise the GEO project that allows them to erect constructions on public land, from non-reimbursable external funds / The proposals were described by the USR Opposition as “real estate cannon” that would contravene the Constitution

“Putting into practice, and in emergency mode, the solutions aimed at developing a new infrastructure of the Romanian education system, solutions that can also be found in the PNRR, is an absolute priority of the Government of Romania, through the Ministry of Education”, the alliance claims medical universities in Romania, G6-UMF. It thus defends, through a press release issued this week, the proposals from the draft emergency ordinance made transparent by the Ministry of Education, which provides that universities can build on public land that does not belong to them, including by using external funds non-refundable.

The provision in the draft GEO was harshly criticized by the opposition party USR, whose representatives invoked an attempt at “a real estate” that “will turn the University oligarchs into large landowners”.

It is about the provisions of the draft GEO that include the “right of surface” among the rights of higher education institutions over some goods in the public domain of the state. This right, according to the draft, can be used by universities “for the purpose of implementing infrastructure projects with financing from external non-reimbursable funds or from their own income”.

On Tuesday, the very day USR was organizing a protest at the Ministry of Education, accusing “a monstrous matter” that would allow university decision-makers “to dispose of the use of properties in the public domain. This including non-reimbursable funds and European money”, the alliance of medical and pharmacy universities in Romania, G6-UMF, issued its own statement defending the initiative.

According to G6-UMF, “the implementation, and in an emergency regime, of the solutions aimed at the development of a new infrastructure of the Romanian education system, solutions that can also be found in the PNRR, is an absolute priority of the Government of Romania, through the Ministry Education”.

The perspective of medical universities on the context of this initiative:

• “a new infrastructure, pre-university or university, requires new land on which it can be developed, inner-city land, located in the educational centers, as close as possible to the old premises in order to make the educational act more efficient. This requires ultra-central lands, at high costs, but some of these lands belong to the public domain, under the administration of other public institutions.

• The current procedure requires that such land, the necessity of which is established for the investment, is detached from the original public domain and transferred to a separate lot on which the investment is made, with the degradation of the urban indicators and the decrease of the implicitly occupied area of ​​the built area.
• The Ministry of Education proposes that on such a lot, which remains under the administration of the original public institution, several public institutions will have access for the development of a new infrastructure, benefiting at the same time from the initial urban planning indicators, and this can be done through the surface right that grants the first public institution to the one making the investment”.

The cited alliance claims that, through that project, “the Ministry of Education makes the attraction of non-reimbursable funds both at university and pre-university levels more efficient with direct beneficiaries – thousands of pupils and students”. And the organization claims that if such a solution were not implemented, money from non-reimbursable funds would be lost: “The negative impact of not implementing the solution: the non-refundable amounts lost, doubled by the costs of the land and the amounts that will be spent from the state budget to make the investments”.

• The G6-UMF alliance consists of: “Carol Davilla” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, “Iuliu Hațieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj Napoca, University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Craiova, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Gr. T. Popa” from Iasi, “George Emil Palade” University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology from Târgu Mureș, “Victor Babeș” University of Medicine and Pharmacy from Timișoara.

In Tuesday’s protest, USR representatives had accused that, through the provisions related to the surface right, the GEO draft violates the Basic Law regarding public and private property. Previously, the USR senator claimed that, through this project, “the university oligarchs are preparing to give a bigger real estate cannon than Romexpo, with the help of the Deca League”.

The full G6-UMF press release:

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