Lawyer Crenguc Leau, who led the team of Romanian lawyers who represented the Romanian state in the claim filed by Gabriel Resources at the Arbitration Tribunal regarding gold mining in Roşia Montană, says that legally the claimant can appeal the decision and the annulment case could take two years, News.ro notes. “The risk must be taken, from a legal point of view, absolutely in any situation when these appeals are still available. (…) We must have such transparency to analyze the situation and see that there are some next steps that must be taken with great responsibility and attention,” said Krengutsa Leaua.

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“I can only say that legally there is an opportunity to formulate an appeal in any of the files regulated by the procedure we were in, so there is such an opportunity. Whether the investor will go for it or not remains to be seen. Her reasons are very limiting, and in terms of timing, we will know in the coming months whether it is formulated or not. In absolutely any situation, when these appeals still exist, it is necessary to take risks from a legal point of view. We now believe that this decision is one that demonstrates that the Tribunal understood Romania’s position very well. But this is a two-to-one solution. That is, a decision in which two arbitrators were the majority that decided, and one arbitrator had a different opinion that was not in favor of the Romanian state. And then we have to have that clarity to analyze the situation and see that there are some next steps that need to be taken with great responsibility and attention,” Krengutsa Leaua said on Digi 24 on Sunday night.

The lawyer specified that if Gabriel Resources files a claim for annulment against the Court of Arbitration, the claim could last up to two years.

Crenguța Leaua clarified that the same team, formed by law firms from Romania and Switzerland, also won for the Romanian state an annulment lawsuit filed by an investor.

“We have gone through this experience, we know that it is a complex and difficult kind of procedure, but we also know that it can be won by the state, we have won it before,” says Leaua.

“Indeed, there was weight in the defense that we formulated, the company’s position – it is not enough to have a signed document with the state”

She specified that she could not detail the arguments given in Romania’s defense, as at the moment the decision of the Arbitration Court has not yet been published.

“I can present the essence of the idea that led the Tribunal to recognize Romania’s position and reject the foreign investor’s request, which is that Romania did not violate the provisions of the treaty on the mutual protection of investments and respected the rights of the investor, and, thanks to its domestic legislation and procedures, preferred which must be observed by both foreign and Romanian investors. Indeed, there was weight in defending the company’s position that we formulated. This is what is called a “social license” in international law, meaning that it is not enough to have a document signed with the state, such as a license agreement, but also to have the approval of the human community. into which you integrate your investments. And this social approval, social license, in this case we claimed in the Arbitration Court that it was not received,” the lawyer added.

She was also asked if she knew how information that Romania might lose the process reached the Romanian government.

“You understand that I, as a lawyer, cannot reveal absolutely any date, any situation, (…) but I can tell you the following: any person responsible – and absolutely all governments in Romania have been held accountable over time for this file – he had a way of realizing and it was normal to look at the risk and lose this file because the file was high risk, very complex and very high value,” Krengutsa Lev also stated.