ROMANIAN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN THROWS 'ADOPTION BALL' INTO EU COURT

9 February 2004

ROMANIAN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN THROWS 'ADOPTION BALL' INTO EU COURT.
Opposition Democratic Party Chairman Traian Basescu said on 9 February
that European Commission President Romano Prodi has lobbied the Romanian
government to allow exceptions to the country's moratorium on
international adoptions, which was imposed in 2001, Mediafax reported.
Basescu said that European Commissioner for Human Rights Alvaro
Gil-Robles, as well as numerous European politicians,
Europarliamentarians, and diplomats intervened on behalf of prospective
adoptive parents, as did prominent U.S. congressmen. Basescu said Prodi,
Gil-Robles, and other European politicians owe Romania an explanation as
to why the country is now being threatened with repercussions for
abiding by their requests. Meanwhile, the Europarliament's rapporteur on
Romania, Baroness Emma Nicholson, arrived in Bucharest on 7 February and
held talks with Romanian officials in charge of the adoption process.
She was scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Adrian Nastase on 9
February, Romanian Radio reported. On 6 February, the cabinet issued an
emergency ordinance banning exceptions to the moratorium. MS

EUROPEAN POLITICIANS OPPOSE SUSPENDING ACCESSION TALKS WITH ROMANIA. In
a resolution approved at the end of its 4-5 February congress, the
European People's Party (EPP) said it opposes suspending EU-accession
talks with Romania, the daily "Evenimentul zilei" reported on 8
February. However the party wants "a strict monitoring" of Romania's
fulfillment of the political criteria for EU membership in general, and
of reforms in public administration and the judiciary in particular.
Baroness Nicholson supported EEP Europarliamentarian Arie Oostlander's
proposal that an amendment calling for the EU to suspend the
negotiations be added to the Romania country report Nicholson is
drafting. Meeting in Madrid on 6 February, the Socialist group in the
European Parliament likewise expressed opposition to the proposed
amendment to the report, but called on Bucharest to "display more
coherence and [political] will for the successful closure of
negotiations" by the end of 2004. Prime Minister Nastase, who attended
the meeting, met in Madrid with his Spanish counterpart Jose Maria
Aznar, who ensured him of Spain's full support for Romania's EU
integration, Romanian Radio reported. MS

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