WRITTEN QUESTION E-3666/00

by Mario Mantovani (PPE-DE), Guido Podestà (PPE-DE) and Antonio Tajani (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(27 November 2000)

Subject: Children in Romania

Romania is currently undergoing one of the greatest human tragedies inherited from the Communist era: over 65 000 abandoned children are still living in orphanages. This is the result of Ceausescu's absurd law on abortion, in force for 24 long years (1965-1989), which made it compulsory for people to have at least four children. Some 3000 of these abandoned children are now HIV-infected or suffering from serious disabilities, partly because they were vaccinated by the same syringes.

With reference to the 2000 report on Romania, could the Commission therefore shed light on the current status of the financial assistance granted by the European Union to this applicant country with a view to alleviating this tragedy?

Could the Commission also promote an awareness campaign on the topic of adoptions in the EU Member States, with a view to streamlining national laws and encouraging Community-wide coordination and exchange of information, so as to provide real help to these defenceless children?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(9 January 2001)

In its 2000 Regular Report on Romania's progress towards accession(1), the Commission states that despite recent developments in the reform of the child protection sector in Romania, further work is necessary. The organisational and administrative capacity of the County Councils, which are now responsible for funding and managing childcare institutions, has to be strengthened, as the success of the reform will depend on the capacity and commitment of these bodies. There is also a general need to integrate childcare policies and social welfare systems in such a way as to assist families, prevent abandonment and address the problem of street children in major cities.

Since the early nineties, the Commission has provided technical and financial assistance to the child protection sector in Romania. In 1999, following a request for assistance from the Romanian Prime Minister, the Commission allocated Phare and European Community humanitarian office (ECHO) funds ( 11,75 million in total) for urgent direct assistance to some 200 childcare institutions in Romania to improve the living conditions of children. The Commission and the Romanian authorities recognise, however, that assistance should now concentrate on the structural reform of the child protection sector, and have as its primary objective the reduction of institutionalisation (i.e. the abandonment of children to public institutions). To this effect, the Commission has granted 25 million from Phare for a child protection programme which the Romanian authorities are now starting to implement.

The Phare Child Protection Programme has the following components:

- the creation and development of community integrated child welfare projects at local level, with special emphasis on preventing child abandonment and institutionalisation;

- the restructuring of the residential care institutions;

- technical assistance (using Member States' expertise through twinning, i.e. the secondment of a national expert to the government of Romania) to facilitate co-operation between the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection services (at central and local level) with childcare departments (at central and local level), in order to ensure that Romania's overall social protection policies are effective in providing support to families with children at risk, and preventing abandonment and institutionalisation of children;

- a national public awareness campaign aimed at preventing abandonment of children and their re-integration into (natural or foster) families.

As to the matter of international adoption, the Commission noted in the 2000 Regular Report that Romania has ratified the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in respect of Inter-country Adoption in 1994. A number of signatories of the Convention have expressed their concern with current adoption practices in Romania. The main concern is that legislation on adoption appears to allow considerations, other than the best interest of the child, to influence decisions on adoption. The Commission has drawn attention to the fact that this system risks having a negative effect on efforts to reform the child protection system in Romania.

(1) COM(2000) 710 final.