Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BUCHAREST1298
2006-08-18 17:10:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Bucharest
Cable title:  

SCENESETTER FOR CODEL LANTOS VISIT TO ROMANIA

Tags:  OREP PREL ECON RO 
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RUEHSL/AMEMBASSY BRATISLAVA 0417
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RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 1634
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RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 0265
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RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA 0045
RUEHFT/AMCONSUL FRANKFURT 2038
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 0414
UNCLAS BUCHAREST 001298 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE DEPT FOR EUR/NCE AND H

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OREP PREL ECON RO
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR CODEL LANTOS VISIT TO ROMANIA
AUGUST 31-SEPTEMBER 2

REF: SECSTATE 130309

UNCLAS BUCHAREST 001298

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE DEPT FOR EUR/NCE AND H

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OREP PREL ECON RO
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR CODEL LANTOS VISIT TO ROMANIA
AUGUST 31-SEPTEMBER 2

REF: SECSTATE 130309


1. (SBU) Summary: Embassy Bucharest warmly welcomes your
visit to Romania. Romania has been a staunch ally, providing
troops in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Balkans. President
Traian Basescu has championed a strong strategic partnership
with the United States, maintaining an outward-looking
transatlantic foreign policy even as Romania prepares for EU
entry in 2007. However, his center-right political coalition
government has been roiled by frictions with his Prime
Minister, including over the issue of maintaining Romanian
troops in Iraq. A recently ratified bilateral defense
cooperation agreement with Romania has paved the way for U.S.
use of Romanian military facilities. Romania likewise
encourages greater U.S. and NATO strategic involvement in the
wider Black Sea region. The Romanian economy has grown
rapidly, and there have been encouraging signs of greater
U.S. investor interest. However, the country's legacy of
corruption, poor infrastructure, and labor rigidities have
resulted in Romania lagging well behind other Eastern
European economies as a target for foreign investment. Human
rights matters of concern include discrimination against
ethnic minorities such as the Roma and a continuing legacy of
anti-Semitism. Your visit is an opportunity to encourage
Romanian leaders to continue their positive steps toward
broader recognition of Romania's Holocaust history, to allow
the return of Nazi war criminals stripped of their U.S.
citizenship and to push authorities to strip right-wing
politician Corneliu Vadim Tudor of a presidential medal.
Inter-country adoptions is another issue that has aroused
strong U.S. congressional interest. End Summary.


2. (SBU) The government of President Traian Basecu has
anchored itself on a strong strategic partnership with the
United States, with a focus on maintaining an outward-looking
transatlantic foreign policy as the country prepares for
entry into the European Union at the beginning of 2007.
Romania has been a staunch ally in both words and deeds,
deploying around 2,000 troops abroad with NATO and
Coalition-led operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the
Balkans. Your visit comes on the eve of Romania's obtaining

a final "green light" for accession to the European Union,
culminating over a decade and a half of efforts by Romania to
integrate fully with the west. Your visit is an opportunity
to emphasize that EU membership and a strong strategic
partnership with the United States are perfectly compatible.



3. (SBU) Nearly two years after his December 2004 surprise
electoral victory, President Basescu remains the most popular
political figure in Romania, with approval ratings
approaching 60 percent. He has used his position
domestically to press for reform and progress in the fight
against high-level corruption. A feature of Romanian
domestic politics over the past year has been frictions
within the center-right government coalition. One low point
came when, in late June, Prime Minister Calin-Popescu
Tariceanu without consulting the President or key coalition
partners announced that his party would press for a complete
withdrawal of Romanian troops from Iraq, without consulting
the President or key coalition partners. As
Commander-in-Chief with primary authority over security and
foreign policy, Basescu immediately reaffirmed his pledge to
maintain Romanian troops in Iraq and Afghanistan "as long as
they are needed," and for the moment that commitment remains
firm.


4. (SBU) In July 2006, the Romanian parliament ratified a
historic agreement to allow U.S. troops to deploy to Romanian
military facilities for training and other purposes. The
agreement was signed by Secretary Rice during a visit to
Bucharest in December 2005. Romania is an especially devoted
and active NATO member, fully committed to developing niche
capabilities and serving as a role model and guide to
aspirant NATO members in the region. Romania has been
actively involved in regional organizations such as the
Southeast Europe Cooperative Initiative (SECI) and the
Stability Pact for Southeast Europe. Focusing strategic

interest in the wider Black Sea basin has been a Romanian
priority. President Basescu strongly advocates an increased
U.S., NATO and EU role in the Black Sea region as a way of
linking Europe proper to unstable regions further east. He
considers frozen conflicts in the Caucasus and in neighboring
Moldova/Transnistria as a reason for a stabilizing Western
role in the region. He has also cited security challenges
along the Black Sea littoral, including trafficking in
narcotics and persons. Romania's drive to position itself as
a regional leader has led it to seek improved relations with
neighboring Hungary, Moldova, Bulgaria, and Ukraine while
pursuing a more pragmatic relationship with Russia.


5. (SBU) While Romania has carefully fostered a close
bilateral security and political relationship with the U.S.,
our economic and commercial relationship was slower to take
off and still has plenty of room to grow. Since 2000, the
Romanian economy has grown rapidly, enjoying four to eight
percent growth each year. Recently, there have been
encouraging signs for U.S. investment. Many American
companies are in Romania and are doing well. Microsoft,
Oracle, Timkin, Colgate Palmolive, Smithfield Foods and
Hewlett Packard have all made recent substantial investments
here. Along with IBM, both Ford and GM are looking at
further large investment in Romania. Although plagued by
delays, construction has resumed on the nearly 3 billion USD
Bechtel highway project through Transylvania. However, while
the EU accession process has hastened economic reform, the
country's legacy of corruption and belated economic reforms
has resulted in U.S. investment in Romania lagging behind
investment in other newly-minted EU states. Poor
infrastructure and labor rigidities also contribute. You may
wish to encourage GOR officials to work more closely with
foreign investor groups like Amcham to adopt growth-promoting
policies and to focus greater resources on infrastructure and
anti-corruption measures as a means of attracting greater
foreign investor interest.


6. (SBU) Human Rights issues of continuing concern include
corruption, political influence over the judiciary, police
abuse, and poor conditions in prisons and detention centers.
Other areas of concern include discrimination against Roma
and persons with HIV/AIDS, trafficking in persons, and
restitution of property of the Greek Catholic Church.
Right-wing nationalist parties continue to obtain between
12-20 percent popular support according to opinion polls,
drawing from old ideas of irredentism, anti-Semitism,
religious intolerance and discrimination directed against
Roma and ethnic Hungarians. President Basescu, and
particularly Foreign Minister Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu, have
been active in heightening awareness of Romania's role in the
Holocaust. Several universities, notably those in Bucharest,
Cluj, and Iasi, have instituted courses focusing on Holocaust
history. A government - sponsored Institute for Holocaust
Studies was established last year with the support of the
Presidency. Still, more needs to be done. You can be
helpful in pushing Romanian leaders to accept the return of
Nazi war criminals stripped of their U.S. citizenship.
Another related issue surrounds the awarding of a
presidential medal to right-wing political leader Corneliu
Vadim Tudor, a past Holocaust denier. Many critics,
including Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel have called for Tudor to
be stripped of the presidential medal awarded to him by
former President Ilescu. You might urge progress on both
these issues as components of Romania's broader recognition
of its true involvement in the Holocaust.


7. (SBU) The largest party representing the ethnic
Hungarian minority in Romania is the UDMR (Democratic
Alliance of Hungarians in Romania),which is a member of the
ruling coalition government. Other ethnic Hungarian groups
have alleged that their attempts to register as opposition
parties have been blocked by the UDMR, which argues that the
Hungarian minorities' influence will be diluted if the
Hungarian vote is split among different parties. The UDMR
favors a relatively moderate approach to ethnic autonomy
issues, focusing on cultural and individual autonomy and
de-emphasizing territorial matters, while several radical

groups demand more autonomy now.


8. (SBU) The continuing failure of Romania to resolve
pending adoption cases filed by U.S. parents before Romania
imposed a ban on inter-country adoptions is a serious
concern, and has aroused strong congressional interest.
Despite calls from some members of the European Parliament
and the U.S. Congress for action to allow intercountry
adoptions to proceed, the Romanian government has not
followed through, claiming that the European Commission
remains opposed to amending the ban. Contrary to assertions
by Romanian officials that they have developed a model system
for orphans and abandoned children, the Embassy and other
international observers have observed clear evidence of
malnutrition and neglect in Romanian child welfare
institutions.
Taplin