WRITTEN QUESTION E-3666/00 by Mario Mantovani (PPE-DE), Guido Podestà (PPE-DE) and Antonio Tajani (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Children in Romania.
Date: 2000-11-27
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU financing, European social policy, Romania, adoption of a child, child protection, orphan

C 174 E/108

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

19.6.2001

(2001/C 174 E/111)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3666/00

by Mario Mantovani (PPE-DE), Guido Podest(cid:224) (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(cid:146)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 (cid:145)vaccinated(cid:146) 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(cid:146)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:

(cid:129) the creation and development of community integrated child welfare projects at local

level, with

special emphasis on preventing child abandonment and institutionalisation;

(cid:129) the restructuring of the residential care institutions;

(cid:129) technical assistance (using Member States(cid:146) expertise through (cid:145)twinning(cid:146),

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(cid:146)s overall social protection policies are effective in
providing support to families with children at risk, and preventing abandonment and institutionalisa-
tion of children;

19.6.2001

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 174 E/109

(cid:129) 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.

(2001/C 174 E/112)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3670/00

by Mar(cid:237)a Sornosa Mart(cid:237)nez (PSE) to the Commission

(27 November 2000)

Subject: Need for an environmental

impact assessment of a project

in Puerto de Grau (Castell(cid:243)n,

Autonomous Community of Valencia)

Written Question E-2194/00 (1) to the Commission criticised the fact that approval had been given to a
special plan drawn up by the Castell(cid:243)n port authority to build a number of commercial properties and a
multi-cinema complex in the area known as Muelle de Costa without the appropriate environmental
impact assessment having been carried out. If such properties were constructed the town of Castell(cid:243)n
would be virtually closed off from the sea and the landscape would be affected as a result.

In its reply of 7 September 2000 the Commission announced the launch of an investigation with the
Spanish authorities aimed at clarifying whether there had indeed been a failure to comply with Community
environmental legislation, and in particular whether the project might have required a statutory impact
assessment.

Is the Commission already aware of the substance of the special plan drawn up by the Castell(cid:243)n port
authority?

Will it give details of the state of play with regard to its investigation and the reply received from the
Spanish authorities?

Does it not take the view that the said plan constitutes a serious breach of Directive 97/11/EC (2)
(amending Directive 85/337/EEC (3)) which,
includes trading ports and
impact
piers for loading and unloading amongst the installations which are subject to environmental
assessment?

in paragraph 8(b) of Annex 1,

(1) OJ C 103 E, 3.4.2001, p. 84.
(2) OJ L 73, 14.3.1997, p. 5.
(3) OJ L 175, 5.7.1985, p. 40.

Answer given by Mrs Wallstr(cid:246)m on behalf of the Commission

(24 January 2001)

The Commission has not yet received a reply from the Spanish authorities regarding the project in
question, but the time limit for this has not yet expired.

The Commission contacted the Spanish authorities in order to obtain information which might point to
incorrect application of Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of
certain public and private projects on the environment (1), amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC of
3 March 1997 (2).