Romania to lift agricultural land sale ban

The Romanian government adopted a draft law to lift the ban on the sale of agricultural land to foreigners, starting 2014.

Until now, only foreign citizens connected with local firms or with Romanian business partners were eligible to buy farm land.

Initial provisions in the law included a requirement to have experience in agriculture and for the land being bought not to exceed 100 acres, but they were later dropped.

Similar to Romania, Bulgaria’s moratorium on the sale of agricultural land to foreigners expires at the end of 2013. However, the Bulgarian government voted controversially to extend it until 2020, a move which will likely lead to sanctions from Brussels.

Adapted from Novinite