The proposal was adopted with 60 votes for, 29 against and 16 abstentions.
The bill was initiated by ruling party leader Liviu Dragnea and social-democrat senator Serban Nicolae at the end of February.
The bill will have to be approved by the lower chamber as well before it can become law.
The act would see Romania’s central bank repatriate 91.5% of the gold reserve deposited outside the country, amounting to more than 56 tons of gold.
According to the initiative, the central bank’s foreign gold holdings will be capped at a maximum of 5% of total gold reserves. Recently, central bank deputy governor Liviu Voinea said that approximately 59% of Romania’s gold reserve is deposited at the Bank of England.
The bill’s initiators argued that Romania has reached a level of economic stability which would warrant repatriating its foreign gold holdings, adding that the measure would also eliminate depositing costs. Nicolae said it cost Romania EUR300,000 a year to deposit its gold in England but did not offer a source for the figure.
“It would also be a sign of stability. Romania is not an unsafe country anymore, not a country where tensions or conflicts could appear. Romania has a constant economic growth for several years, is stable, inflation is kept under control, the national currency is predictable and stable, which justifies taking this measure similar to other states for the same reasons,” Nicolae told Mediafax on February 28, after the bill was filed.
Romanian opposition parties have criticized the measure, with USR’s Stelian Ion deeming it an “attempt by the ruling coalition to grab hold of Romania’s gold reserves” and Liberal Party MP Raluca Turcan saying the initiative was “Russian propaganda”.