The centre-left government of Victor Ponta on Wednesday will seek parliament’s approval for a law compensating former owners of properties confiscated by the Communist regime after the Second World War.

“The law we have drafted aims finally to find a solution to long-delayed problem of property restitution in Romania,” Ponta said recently.

Romania has to adopt a new restitution law by an end of April deadline following a decision from the European Court for Human Rights.

The law aims to help former owners recover their confiscated properties, but only where it is possible. Otherwise, the state will compensate them according to the value of their lost assets.

Former owners that cannot be compensated in kind will receive points with a nominal value of 1 leu each (1 euro is 4.4 lei). The points can then be used to buy property or exchanged for money. The total amount will be paid within seven years of 2017.

Former owners of nationalized property whose cases have already been resolved will receive cash compensation within five years. Payments will start in January 2014 and be paid in equal annual installments, with a 5,000 lei (1,133 euro) minimum annual sum.

The government estimates that it will have to pay around 9 billion euro to cover the bill.

The restitution bill also contains provisions for taxation. In effect, former owners or their relatives will not be taxed on their recovered assets. However, third parties buying either the points or properties will have to pay a tax on them.

Romania is late with a clear, final legal framework to compensate former owners and recently came under under fire after it said the state had only limited resources to fully compensate all former owners.

Thousands of former property owners have lodged complaints with the European Court. Since 1999, this court has awarded many former owners their houses back, but the authorities in Romania have routinely disregarded the verdicts.

So far, progress on restitution in Romania has been slow and has solved only about 15 per cent of all restitution claims. Moreover, some properties have been illegally given to people who forged ownership documents or inheritance papers.