WRITTEN QUESTION E-3465/00

by Antonio Di Pietro (ELDR) to the Commission

(8 November 2000)

Subject: Respect for civil rights in Romania

In 1992 two Italian citizens, Mr Matar and Mrs Quinci, decided to move to Romania to set up a wholesaling business. Within a few years this business was becoming increasingly profitable, and various sales points were opened in Bucharest and Constanta.

In June 1999 Mr Matar received a deportation order and was forced to leave Romania within 48 hours, abandoning his house and all his property, without being informed of the reason for this measure. The same thing happened to Mrs Quinci, who received a deportation order for five years while she was in Italy for reasons connected with her daughters' studies.

Following legal action against this unjustified procedure, the Matar-Quinci spouses learnt, after considerable opposition from the Romanian Ministry of the Interior, that the reason for Mr Matar's deportation was the activities of his wife, who was wrongly accused of being a journalist who had worked in Lebanon during the civil war, having become a supporter of Islamic Hezbollah, having written and published daily Italian articles supporting Hezbollah and having continued these journalistic activities in Bucharest, holding conferences, of which no further details were given, and creating cover companies. These assertions were untrue, since no trace of the articles or other activities attributed to the Italian couple was found.

The Romanian supreme court, to whom the case was referred, allowed Mr Matar's appeal of unconstitutionality on grounds of abuse of power, in judgement No 299 of 5 May 2000 concerning the legislation making provision for the issuing of deportation orders without the normal procedures having been followed. In fact, in the case of Mr Matar the order had been issued directly by the immigration authorities and not by a magistrate.

In view of these facts, does the Commission not consider that the current lack of respect for civil rights in Romania is a factor which must be taken into consideration in the negotiations underway with a view to Romania joining the European Union?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(20 December 2000)

In order to join the Community, Romania like any other candidate country has to fulfil the accession criteria established by the European Council at its meeting in Copenhagen in 1993.

In particular, the political criteria require stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities. The standards of protection of human rights are therefore taken into consideration by the Commission in its assessment of Romania's progress towards accession to the Community. Such an assessment was recently made by the Commission in the 2000 Regular Report on Romania's progress towards accession(1).

Romania has also ratified the European Convention on human rights in 1994 and its protocols, and is therefore bound by the obligations that follow from these texts. The conditions for expulsion of residential foreigners are regulated in Article 1, Protocol 7 of the Convention. Since Romania has also recognised the jurisdiction of the Court of human rights, a case can be brought before this court for a violation of the Convention and its protocols. However, such an action can only be admitted after all domestic remedies have been exhausted.

In the latest regular report the Commission concluded that Romania on the whole fulfils the Copenhagen political criteria but that further progress still needs to be made in reforming legislation related to political and civil rights.

The Commission assists Romania and monitors its progress towards fulfilling the conditions for accession to the Community. In this particular case the Commission notes that the Romanian judicial system has been able to redress the situation and annul an expulsion order that it found contrary to Romanian legislation.

(1) COM(2000) 710 final.