Euro MPs in Christmas vote on children

In one of the European Parliament's last votes before the Christmas recess, Euro MPs focussed on the welfare of children.

They welcomed Romania's improvements in child protection - and called for action to unblock 500 international adoption cases held up since a moratorium was introduced in June 2001. The adoption moratorium followed worldwide concern over the plight of children in Romanian orphanages. But with recent improvements in child protection in Romania, Dutch Socialist Jan Marinus Wiersma and Green MEP Joost Lagendijk today, 15 December 2005, brought the issue into a vote on Romania's readiness to join the EU on 1 January 2007.

The Parliament gave its overwhelming support to a call from the two Euro MPs for the blocked adoption cases to be "examined in the light of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Romanian Law on the Legal Status of Adoption, with the goal of allowing inter-country adoptions to take place, where justified and appropriate, in those special cases."

The Parliament endorsed a report by French Socialist Pierre Moscovici on the extent of Romania's readiness for EU accession. The report stresses Parliament's desire to see Romania joining the EU on 1 January 2007 and welcomes a range of "significant advances". But it calls for further reform, including in the fight against corruption, organised crime, frontier control, administration, the judicial system and recognition of minorities. Action on environment protection is also needed, says the report.

Said Mr Moscovici: "The prospect of EU membership has acted as a catalyst for numerous changes and reforms by the Romanian authorities in all areas. But the Parliament must also show that is strict and vigilant by following closely the way in which reforms are put into practice."

Contact: Tony Robinson +32-475-257410