WRITTEN QUESTION E-1125/02

by Isidoro Sánchez García (ELDR) to the Council

(18 April 2002)

Subject: Adoption of children in Romania

The Romanian Government's change of attitude over finalising the adoption of children has caused parents in some Member States some distress.

Everybody knows that some Community couples had gone through all the necessary official paperwork for adoption through the Romanian authorities, paperwork which takes a certain time to conclude; but a Child Protection Law recently adopted in Romania quite unexpectedly and incomprehensibly is holding up the government's final decision. The coming into force of this law goes hand in hand with claims of violations of adoption legislation by the Romanian Government, which has produced a disproportionate outcry in Romania. All this makes it impossible for Community couples, particularly in Spain, to legally adopt Romanian children, including parents whose requests had already been processed by the Romanian Adoptions Committee and who had been assigned specific children. The result is uncertainty and concern within these families, whose hearts are set on adopting children, and who find that they are being prevented from doing so.

Furthermore, 19 adoption requests have recently gone before the Romanian courts, 17 of them for US parents, a fact which has caused indignation amongst the Spanish families referred to above, because of the inequality of treatment it presupposes.

Since Romania is a candidate for EU membership, whose accession to the Community has been queried thanks to the adoption issue, what steps does the Council intend to take to get the Romanian Government to regularise the situation of legally processed adoption requests from Community families, particularly in Spain?

Joint answerto Written Questions E-1125/02 and E-1225/02

(30 September 2002)

The Council is aware of the sensitive nature of this issue and of the distress caused to Community families whose applications to adopt Romanian children had already been legally processed when the Romanian Government announced a moratorium on international adoptions in October 2001.

It is worth recalling that the suspension of international adoptions by the Romanian Government was a response to the concerns expressed by, amongst others, the European Commission over serious shortcomings in Romanian legislation and practice regarding such adoptions. The revised Accession Partnership for Romania, that was approved by the Council on 28 January 2002, stipulated that Romania should maintain the moratorium on international adoption in place until new legislation compatible with the best interests of the child and Romania's international obligations is adopted and the administrative capacity to implement the new legislation is ensured.

Whilst maintaining the general moratorium, in December 2001 the Romanian Government took measures to enable the completion of adoption procedures for those cases that were already subject to court procedures when international adoptions were suspended. According to the latest available information, all cases (including those of Community families) that had been decided upon by the courts or were still in court at the time when international adoptions were suspended in October 2001, have now been settled.

At the same time, the Romanian Government took measures to forward to the courts other cases that can be judged as exceptional circumstances. A total of 50 such cases have now been forwarded to the courts.

In April 2002 an independent working group presented a report on inter-country adoptions to the Romanian Government. Prime Minister Nastase has welcomed the report as a basis for future policy on international adoptions and has indicated that the package of laws proposed by the independent working group will be adopted by the end of 2002. In the meantime, steps will be taken to improve administrative capacity in order to implement this legislation.

The European Union, while taking note of these positive developments, will continue to monitor the situation closely and to address the issue in relevant fora, notably within the bodies established by the Europe Agreement between the EU and Romania.