Another Lost Letter

A popular Romanian play revolves around a compromising lost letter from a prefect to the wife of another politician. In that play, the lost letter and the plot around it - a plot involving blackmail, foul play and many, many ludicrous scenes - are the author's way of painting the picture of a bunch of rotten politicians who stand out for gross incompetence, carelessness about their constituents and an ever-growing preoccupation with their political positions and future earnings from such positions. Today, in a different context, the Prime minister, the man in charge of the good progress of Romania's negotiations for E.U. accession, seems to have lost a letter from the E.U. commissioner on Enlargement, that is, a man who plays a crucial role for the future of this country. Like the Prime minister once said, with regards to a different matter though, "Such gross negligence cannot even be found in novels or theater plays!" However, the matter of the lost letter is not a case of negligence! The explanation he gave on television is a fantasy story rather than a reasonable account for what happened with the letter: he said he usually receives thousands of letters every week and so it is no wonder that one of them got lost. Like anyone is going to believe that a letter from Verheugen simply got lost just as an ordinary letter might.

So, what is it about this letter that the Prime minister wants to keep from us?

First of all, there is the fact that the child adoptions scandal is not just any scandal started by some "weird" European M.P. called Oslander or by the follies of the Baroness of Winterbourne, but a scandal that has already reached The European Commission, that is, the executive body overseeing accession negotiations with candidate countries. The Romanian Government's improvised reaction to try to minimize the case and to look for "obscure and perverse" motivations behind the actions taken by the Dutch M.P. has been ridiculed by the free press - of course, not the Romanian press, but by the British press covering the current tension between The E.U. and Romania.

On the surface, the bone of contention is The Romanian Government's policy on international child adoptions. However, the big, unspoken question is whether Romania continues to observe and comply with the political criteria that form the foundation of accession negotiations: the criteria about democracy, democratic institutions and the rule of law. Although Romania has signed a moratorium with The E.U. under which international adoptions of Romanian children were supposed to be suspended. However, over 800 Romanian children have been adopted by international parties over the past three years. It is true that, in many cases, an international adoption is the best thing that could happen to Romanian orphans, but this is not the problem though. The problem is with Romania's attitude towards foreign citizens awaiting clearance to adopt Romanian children. These people and their governments cannot understand why, despite the moratorium, The Romanian Government authorizes some adoption applications and denies others, making those people wait for the future law on this matter which, in principle, will make the procedure even more difficult. The first words that came to mind among those frustrated by this situation were: corruption, defiance! Whom did they mean by those words? Well, that is no mystery: The very Government of Romania! The "ambiguity" of the Romanian officials is, however, a perfect match for the "ambiguity" of those who were just about to tell Romania off once again. Backed into a corner, The Romanian Government revealed the many interventions, phone calls and pressures coming from high-ranking European officials who wanted them to authorize certain adoption cases. The list of such European officials includes a number of individuals ranking high in The European Parliament as well as in The European Commission. So, Europe, on the one hand, is urging us to put a stop to "the international adoption machine" and, on the other hand, European dignitaries including Mr. Berlusconi and Mr. Prodi want exceptions to be made for their sake and for the sake of good bilateral relations. On top of everything, The U.S. does not approve, in principle, of the decision to halt international adoptions!

Although it is easily understood that so much pressure coming from so many contradictory directions is not exactly easy to cope with, it is equally easily understood that The Government's duplicitous approach has made things even more complicated.

The first explanation behind which the Prime minister took cover is ridiculous. The second explanation, found in the "mess' passed on by the previous administration to this administration, is as frail and ridiculous as the first one. Unlike the approach based on bureaucratic solutions and hyper-centralization of the act of ruling, the previous administration preferred to toss the matter to the legal system. Of course, it is absolutely true that the laws were poorly done, ambiguous and lenient enough to allow the existence of lucrative businesses based on international adoptions. Nonetheless, that failed solution was better - at least in principle - than the failed solution devised by The Nastase Government. As for the decision to make public the names of the E.U. dignitaries who, for one reason or another, became involved in the Romanian adoption matter... well, that was one monumental blunder. If Premier Nastase ever had the ambition to become "a European statesman,' now he might very well know that, after this blunder, his chances are busted. For good! If, as soon as the press pinched the matter - which is not a capital matter after all - he decided to reveal everything his counterparts had told him in confidence, it is quite obvious that no one can really count on him!

Back to the play I mentioned in the beginning, it so happened that, in the end, luck saved the good name of the unfaithful wife and the political peace in the troubled county. Nevertheless, I fear that in the little play we are witnessing now, luck will not save the day for our Prime minister!