Fired whistleblower to take revenge on Euro commissioners

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By David Wastell in Barcelona12:01AM BST 17 Oct 2004

Marta Andreasen, the former chief accountant of the European Union who was fired last week for publicly warning of the risk of widespread fraud, is threatening to hit back by releasing a number of potentially embarrassing documents.

Mrs Andreasen, who found out on Wednesday that she had finally lost a two-year battle to keep her job, has amassed more than 100 papers that she believes will shed new light on the EU's poor accounting practices. Some of the documents are so sensitive that she has stored them in a bank vault for safe-keeping.

Police are examining hundreds of cases of foreigners claiming to be the fathers of babies born into poverty

At least three British couples are among scores of would-be parents who are under investigation for allegedly buying babies from Romania.

Foreign men from across Europe are believed to be exploiting a loophole in the law and falsely claiming paternity of Romanian children, and with it the right to take the babies out of the country, circumventing a ban on international adoptions.

The ban was passed in 2001 under pressure from the European Union and is now rigorously enforced. Families who accept money or other goods for their child face up to seven years in jail.

But Romania's prime minister, Adrian Nastase, said that police were investigating dozens of cases involving "parents" from Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Greece, in addition to Britain. Other men claiming paternity have come forward from Turkey, Hungary and even Iran.

Letter got only signed after new Commissioner Olli Rehn refered to UNCRC during his hearing at the European Parliament (was drafted some two weeks before)

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As a result of this, DG ELARG (Barbaso) signed the letter to DG Justice.

Emma Nicholson briefed Rehn

http://audiovisual.europarl.europa.eu/Assetdetail.aspx?id=408d9103-b8d3-4617-b640-f00cd5050d20

http://audiovisual.europarl.europa.eu/Assetdetail.aspx?id=d2adace8-f488-49a9-9402-a37700a729ff

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Romania: Edwardson and Murphy-Scheumann Meeting with Romanian Officials
Posted on September 24, 2004 by Joint Council

Antonia Edwardson, Executive Director and Deb Murphy-Scheumann, Joint Council Board President met with the following individuals in separate meetings regarding the status of pending cases in Romania:
Tatiana Maxim, Congressional Liaison, Embassy of Romania
Katie Joyce, Legislative Correspondent, Office of Senator Kerry
Paul Foldi, Professional Staff Member, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Heather Conley, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, Department of State
Deb Murphy-Scheumann also represented Joint Council in a meeting with Ambassador Crouch in Romania during the month of September.
Summaries of the meetings are detailed in the following bullet points:
§  Ambassador Crouch has met with Prime Minister Nastase on three different occasions and has discussed the issues of the pending cases;
§  Ambassador Crouch has met with other Ambassadors in Bucharest in regard to the pending cases;
§  The State Department has taken a strong lined approach that these cases must be resolved;
§  The country of Romania has indicated that they do not want to aggressively pursue the resolving of these cases until the recommendation report for ascension to the EU has been published. * The report was issued last week. No word on how this may impact the progress of the stated plan.
§  The Romanian government has indicated that they are looking at the development of a commission. The purpose of this commission would only be to address the pending cases from all countries which were filed/referred under the Emergency Ordinance.
§  The US Government is working with the country of Romania to pass a law in parliament that will allow the pending cases to be brought to completion after the January 1 deadline of the new law is implemented;
§  The State Department has asked the Joint Council of International Children’s Services to recommend wording to determine the criteria for pending cases to be identified and processed;
§  The State Department is committed to suggesting language that will create a transparent processing of the pending cases;
§  The State Department is committed to having a broad approach for defining the pending cases;
§  The State Department has engaged in conversations and cooperatively worked with European countries with pending cases, however, the State Departments goal is to resolve US pending cases.
§  A follow-up meeting will be scheduled the end of October to discuss the progress on the issue of pending cases.
http://www.jointcouncil.org/romania-edwardson-and-murphy-scheumann-meeting-with-romanian-officials/

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Edelman Names New Leadership for Brussels Office

Asia Pacific, EMEA, North America

Paul Holmes 06 Sep 2004

BRUSSELS—Edelman has named Laura Currie and Teemu Lehtinen as managing directors of Edelman Brussels. Currie takes over as Managing director, public relations, and Teemu Lehtinen as managing director, public affairs. Both are promoted from their previous roles as directors. They succeed Charlotte Lester, who is leaving Brussels to return to India.

In addition, public affairs veteran Michael Burrell, Edelman’s vice chairman, Europe, takes on the additional role of vhairman, Edelman, Brussels.