ADOPTIONS: PM TARICEANU SHOWS LITTLE FLEXIBILITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BUCHAREST 000116

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/NCE - WILLIAM SILKWORTH; CA/OCS/CI
- CHRIS LAMORA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/23/16
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM CASC RO
SUBJECT: ADOPTIONS: PM TARICEANU SHOWS LITTLE FLEXIBILITY

REF: A) BUCHAREST 00095 B) 2005 BUCHAREST 02550

Classified By: Ambassador Nicholas Taubman for Reasons 1.4 B and D


1. (C) Summary. During a January 16 meeting with Ambassador,
Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu indicated little
flexibility in positively resolving pending adoption cases
filed by U.S. prospective parents before Romania's de facto
ban on inter-country adoptions. He pledged to provide an
explanation of the circumstances of each case, but
underscored that the prospective parents should have "no
false hopes" that any of the adoptions would be processed to
completion. He said he had consulted with the European
Commission after the European Parliament vote in mid-December
that favored of completing inter-country adoptions when
appropriate, but had not changed his mind on the matter. The
Ambassador noted President Basescu's statement to Congressman
Wexler that the GOR might pass an emergency ordinance to
allow some "exceptional cases" to be processed (Ref A). He
pressed Tariceanu to abide by Romania's earlier commitments
to allow the adoptions, in the best interest of the children
involved and to remove the issue as an irritant in our
bilateral relationship. End Summary.


2. (C) Ambassador Taubman met with PM Tariceanu January 16 to
follow up on public GOR statements in recent weeks that no
inter-country adoptions would be processed among the cases
filed during Romania's 2001-2004 moratorium on inter-country
adoptions (Ref A),while President Traian Basescu told
visiting U.S. Congressman Robert Wexler on January 10 that
the GOR would consider emergency legislation to allow some
cases to be processed. Ambassador pressed Tariceanu to honor
what the USG considers was the GOR,s commitment to process
the pending cases, based on their official registration.


3. (C) Prime Minister Tariceanu acknowledged that the issue
of the pending cases remained a difficult point in otherwise
superb bilateral relations. He said, however, that his views
on the issue had not changed, despite the European
Parliament's explicit inclusion in its December report on
Romania of language supportive of processing pending
inter-country adoptions on a case-by-case basis in the best
interests of the children involved. He said that the GOR had
communicated with the European Commission since the EU
Parliament vote. He indicated, however, that the sense in
Brussels on the issue similarly remained the same.


4. (C) Tariceanu further noted that Romania is continuing to
review the circumstances of all the pending cases. In his
view, however, none of the prospective parents should have
"false hopes" that any of the pending cases will lead to an
inter-country adoption taking place. He noted that the GOR
is currently reviewing the circumstances of the children in
all of the roughly 1,300 applications for inter-country
adoption cases filed during the 2001-2004 moratorium on
inter-country adoptions. Of the approximately 650 cases
reviewed thus far, Tariceanu said that none met the GOR's
criteria for inter-country adoption. He committed to ensure
that prospective parents -- in the U.S. and elsewhere --
receive letters with a "detailed analysis" in all of the
cases.


5. (C) Tariceanu also asserted that all the American families
had registered after the start of the moratorium, with the
understanding that Romania could implement a ban on
adoptions. Furthermore, Romania,s new law on adoptions,
which the PM said was in line with European legislation,
"banned any inter-country adoptions from Romania," and the
European Commission "remains strict" in discouraging them.



6. (C) When Ambassador reported that President Basescu had
told Rep. Wexler the GOR might consider emergency legislation
to process some pending cases (Ref B),Tariceanu said he was
¬ sure the President is very aware of the legislation in
place.8 Tariceanu said he would ask what Basescu meant by
his statement. Tariceanu also repeated the GOR,s public line
that some 1,300 Romanian families are waiting to adopt
children, many more than the number of orphans and abandoned
children available ) only three to five hundred, by the
GOR,s count. Furthermore, he claimed, the number of
children abandoned at birth had dropped in the past year,
down to 2,500, with most being reunited with their families
within the first weeks of life.


7. (C) Ambassador responded that, at the time the foreign
families registered, inter-country adoption remained legal in
Romania, but was only temporarily suspended by the

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moratorium. He said the fact that the Romanian government
allowed the cases to be filed represented a commitment by the
Romanian government ultimately to process the adoptions.
Furthermore, the Ambassador contested the figures Tariceanu
cited indicating that Romania had more parents willing to
adopt in Romania than children currently available for
adoption. The Ambassador noted that, given the slow process
for reviewing cases of orphaned and abandoned children, there
are indeed thousands of children in need of permanent homes
but who are stuck in foster care or in institutions. The
Prime Minister claimed there was no lack of will on the
GOR,s part to process the cases, but that the GOR was faced
by the problem of extensive corruption in the old adoption
process and pressure by the European Parliament to stop
inter-country adoptions and promote domestic adoptions.


8. (C) Although he acknowledged that Romania had made
progress in child welfare since the 1990,s, the Ambassador
pressed for a fully transparent analysis of the cases pending
review; for documentation supporting the analysis of those
cases the GOR already determined were not qualified for
inter-country adoption; for the GOR to honor its commitment
to the pending cases; and for the GOR to follow through on
President Basescu,s statement to Rep. Wexler that emergency
legislation could be enacted.


9. (C) Comment: The meeting served notice to Tariceanu that
the USG intends to continue pressing on this issue.
Unfortunately, Tariceanu gave no indication that his outlook
had changed. Neither the vote of the European Parliament in
December to encourage Romania to include inter-country
adoption in resolving the pending cases, nor the recent
letter to the PM from European Parliamentarians, has changed
his thinking.


10. (C) Comment Continued: In our view, impetus for a shift
in the GOR's stance will only come through an explicit green
light from the EC, which is meanwhile reviewing Romania's
candidacy for accession to the EU in 2007. Basescu's
assertion to Rep. Wexler that the GOR would consider an
emergency ordinance to allow processing of a very limited
number of pending cases might also offer a small window of
opportunity, although we have been disappointed before. The
stark reality is that the vast majority of the pending cases
will not be resolved in a manner that leads to international
adoption. This includes cases where children may have been
reunited with their natural family or where Romanian foster
parents -- who in many cases have cared for the children for
many years -- may be given priority by the GOR to adopt the
children. In short, time is not on our side. Our
expectations must remain modest, even as we seek to change
the equation here and in Brussels. End Comment.


11. (U) Amembassy Bucharest's reporting telegrams are
available on the Bucharest SIPRNet website:
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/bucharest

TAUBMAN