Moscovici: Romania needs to solve international adoption issue

Moscovici: Romania needs to solve international adoption issue

Andreea Pocotila

The fight against corruption, environment legislation, integration of Roma and international adoptions are the key issues in Pierre Moscovici's report to be debated by the European Parliament.

The document presented by the European Parliament's rapporteur Pierre Moscovici in the EP's Foreign Affairs Committee last night insists that the delicate issue of international adoptions in Romania be solved. Moscovici's report summarizes the conclusions of the European Commission's monitoring report, but demands the international adoption problem be dealt with by the Romanian authorities, after adoptions had been blocked by a moratorium in 2001. The report acknowledges the significant progress made by Romania in the child protection field, but demands Bucharest authorities "solve as soon as possible international adoptions requests submitted during the ban, taking into consideration the real suffering of adoptive parents." As well as the European Union's warning letter sent last week, the report draws attention to the necessity for the protection of mentally disabled people to be improved, as their life and conditions of care are yet not satisfactory. The EP's report also demands stricter surveillance of use of force by the security forces, particularly involving firearms, as well as for efforts to reintegrate Roma people to continue. According to Moscovici, better access to the labor market would allow the Roma community to fit better into society. Moscovici remphasizes that the fight against corruption is a priority, especially at high level, and insists on the continuation of justice reform. The rapporteur also asked for urgent measures to strengthen institutions' administrative capacity and demands the Bucharest government make additional efforts to apply environmental legislation. Moreover, the European lawmaker encouraged Romania to adopt and apply laws in the veterinary field and said the intellectual property rights issue should be among the authorities' priorities. Moscovici asked the European Commission to help Romanian authorities fulfill their commitments and constantly inform the European Parliament about its monitoring activity in Bucharest. The EU lawmaker supports the European Commission's decision to make a recommendation as to whether Romania should join the EU in 2007 or not, but has called for the EU Parliament to have a say in the decision. Moscovici's report restates the EP's wish for Romania to join the European Union as scheduled, on January 1, 2007 and calls on EU members to ratify the country's EU accession treaty as soon as possible. The report will be debated twice by the Foreign Affairs Commission and will be voted on in the EP at the beginning of December.