Colin Powell meeting Nastase

An excerpt from an article in the Bucharest daily ADEVARUL

- regarding Romania's Prime Minister's meeting with Colin Powell on Wednesday.

"In connection with Romania's quest for acceptance into NATO, Colin Powell said only that Romania is a strong candidate, after which he switched to the subject that's turning white the hair of the Bucharest officials: International adoptions.

This subject is being raised obsessively in the dialogue with the Western authorities. It seems that the most delicate problem is that of families whose cases are almost completed. The numbers seem to be huge & because of that the freezing of adoptions makes Romania's position extremely controversial.

Bombarded by intervening senators and congressmen, Colin Powell asked Romania's visiting Prime Minister Adrian Nastase for a supplementary
explanation in connection to these cases (called "pipe-line cases" in diplomatic jargon).

The PM of Romania explained that a special commission was set up to monitor these cases, and the result could very well turn out to be a reasonable solution to satisfy both those in favour and those against international adoptions. "