Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta has promised to accelerate the restitution of Jewish properties confiscated in the 20th century.

Mr Ponta made the pledge after meeting a World Jewish Restitution Organisation (WJRO) delegation in Bucharest.

Romania has legislated to restitute Jewish communal properties, but so far only about 300 of 1,980 claims have been resolved.

The restitution of privately owned properties is also moving very slowly, due to bureaucracy, corruption and the inefficiencies of the legal system.

"In spite of legislation which appears beneficial, implementation of the restitution process in Romania has been seriously flawed," WJRO said.

Romania's Jewish population was more than 800,000 in 1940, but just over half perished in the Holocaust in Romanian and Hungarian-administered territories.

The Romanian state confiscated Jewish properties on a large scale starting in 1940, returning some of them to their rightful owners at the end of the war, only to confiscate them again when the Communist regime, propped up by the Soviet Union, took over in 1945.