Viewing cable 06BUCHAREST1298, SCENESETTER FOR CODEL LANTOS VISIT TO ROMANIA

Publication date: 17 August 2006

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin

06BUCHAREST1298 2006-08-18 17:10 2011-08-30 01:44 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Bucharest

VZCZCXYZ0023

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ZNR UUUUU ZZH

P 181710Z AUG 06

FM AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST

TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4985

INFO RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 0038

RUEHSW/AMEMBASSY BERN 1609

RUEHSL/AMEMBASSY BRATISLAVA 0417

RUEHUP/AMEMBASSY BUDAPEST 1099

RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0190

RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 1634

RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0240

RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 0265

RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 2202

RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA 0045

RUEHFT/AMCONSUL FRANKFURT 2038

RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 0414

UNCLAS BUCHAREST 001298

SIPDIS

STATE DEPT FOR EUR/NCE AND H

E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: OREP PREL ECON RO

SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR CODEL LANTOS VISIT TO ROMANIA

AUGUST 31-SEPTEMBER 2

REF: SECSTATE 130309

¶1. (SBU) Summary: Embassy Bucharest warmly welcomes your

visit to Romania. Romania has been a staunch ally, providing

troops in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Balkans. President

Traian Basescu has championed a strong strategic partnership

with the United States, maintaining an outward-looking

transatlantic foreign policy even as Romania prepares for EU

entry in 2007. However, his center-right political coalition

government has been roiled by frictions with his Prime

Minister, including over the issue of maintaining Romanian

troops in Iraq. A recently ratified bilateral defense

cooperation agreement with Romania has paved the way for U.S.

use of Romanian military facilities. Romania likewise

encourages greater U.S. and NATO strategic involvement in the

wider Black Sea region. The Romanian economy has grown

rapidly, and there have been encouraging signs of greater

U.S. investor interest. However, the country's legacy of

corruption, poor infrastructure, and labor rigidities have

resulted in Romania lagging well behind other Eastern

European economies as a target for foreign investment. Human

rights matters of concern include discrimination against

ethnic minorities such as the Roma and a continuing legacy of

anti-Semitism. Your visit is an opportunity to encourage

Romanian leaders to continue their positive steps toward

broader recognition of Romania's Holocaust history, to allow

the return of Nazi war criminals stripped of their U.S.

citizenship and to push authorities to strip right-wing

politician Corneliu Vadim Tudor of a presidential medal.

Inter-country adoptions is another issue that has aroused

strong U.S. congressional interest. End Summary.

¶2. (SBU) The government of President Traian Basecu has

anchored itself on a strong strategic partnership with the

United States, with a focus on maintaining an outward-looking

transatlantic foreign policy as the country prepares for

entry into the European Union at the beginning of 2007.

Romania has been a staunch ally in both words and deeds,

deploying around 2,000 troops abroad with NATO and

Coalition-led operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the

Balkans. Your visit comes on the eve of Romania's obtaining

a final "green light" for accession to the European Union,

culminating over a decade and a half of efforts by Romania to

integrate fully with the west. Your visit is an opportunity

to emphasize that EU membership and a strong strategic

partnership with the United States are perfectly compatible.

¶3. (SBU) Nearly two years after his December 2004 surprise

electoral victory, President Basescu remains the most popular

political figure in Romania, with approval ratings

approaching 60 percent. He has used his position

domestically to press for reform and progress in the fight

against high-level corruption. A feature of Romanian

domestic politics over the past year has been frictions

within the center-right government coalition. One low point

came when, in late June, Prime Minister Calin-Popescu

Tariceanu without consulting the President or key coalition

partners announced that his party would press for a complete

withdrawal of Romanian troops from Iraq, without consulting

the President or key coalition partners. As

Commander-in-Chief with primary authority over security and

foreign policy, Basescu immediately reaffirmed his pledge to

maintain Romanian troops in Iraq and Afghanistan "as long as

they are needed," and for the moment that commitment remains

firm.

¶4. (SBU) In July 2006, the Romanian parliament ratified a

historic agreement to allow U.S. troops to deploy to Romanian

military facilities for training and other purposes. The

agreement was signed by Secretary Rice during a visit to

Bucharest in December 2005. Romania is an especially devoted

and active NATO member, fully committed to developing niche

capabilities and serving as a role model and guide to

aspirant NATO members in the region. Romania has been

actively involved in regional organizations such as the

Southeast Europe Cooperative Initiative (SECI) and the

Stability Pact for Southeast Europe. Focusing strategic

interest in the wider Black Sea basin has been a Romanian

priority. President Basescu strongly advocates an increased

U.S., NATO and EU role in the Black Sea region as a way of

linking Europe proper to unstable regions further east. He

considers frozen conflicts in the Caucasus and in neighboring

Moldova/Transnistria as a reason for a stabilizing Western

role in the region. He has also cited security challenges

along the Black Sea littoral, including trafficking in

narcotics and persons. Romania's drive to position itself as

a regional leader has led it to seek improved relations with

neighboring Hungary, Moldova, Bulgaria, and Ukraine while

pursuing a more pragmatic relationship with Russia.

¶5. (SBU) While Romania has carefully fostered a close

bilateral security and political relationship with the U.S.,

our economic and commercial relationship was slower to take

off and still has plenty of room to grow. Since 2000, the

Romanian economy has grown rapidly, enjoying four to eight

percent growth each year. Recently, there have been

encouraging signs for U.S. investment. Many American

companies are in Romania and are doing well. Microsoft,

Oracle, Timkin, Colgate Palmolive, Smithfield Foods and

Hewlett Packard have all made recent substantial investments

here. Along with IBM, both Ford and GM are looking at

further large investment in Romania. Although plagued by

delays, construction has resumed on the nearly 3 billion USD

Bechtel highway project through Transylvania. However, while

the EU accession process has hastened economic reform, the

country's legacy of corruption and belated economic reforms

has resulted in U.S. investment in Romania lagging behind

investment in other newly-minted EU states. Poor

infrastructure and labor rigidities also contribute. You may

wish to encourage GOR officials to work more closely with

foreign investor groups like Amcham to adopt growth-promoting

policies and to focus greater resources on infrastructure and

anti-corruption measures as a means of attracting greater

foreign investor interest.

¶6. (SBU) Human Rights issues of continuing concern include

corruption, political influence over the judiciary, police

abuse, and poor conditions in prisons and detention centers.

Other areas of concern include discrimination against Roma

and persons with HIV/AIDS, trafficking in persons, and

restitution of property of the Greek Catholic Church.

Right-wing nationalist parties continue to obtain between

12-20 percent popular support according to opinion polls,

drawing from old ideas of irredentism, anti-Semitism,

religious intolerance and discrimination directed against

Roma and ethnic Hungarians. President Basescu, and

particularly Foreign Minister Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu, have

been active in heightening awareness of Romania's role in the

Holocaust. Several universities, notably those in Bucharest,

Cluj, and Iasi, have instituted courses focusing on Holocaust

history. A government - sponsored Institute for Holocaust

Studies was established last year with the support of the

Presidency. Still, more needs to be done. You can be

helpful in pushing Romanian leaders to accept the return of

Nazi war criminals stripped of their U.S. citizenship.

Another related issue surrounds the awarding of a

presidential medal to right-wing political leader Corneliu

Vadim Tudor, a past Holocaust denier. Many critics,

including Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel have called for Tudor to

be stripped of the presidential medal awarded to him by

former President Ilescu. You might urge progress on both

these issues as components of Romania's broader recognition

of its true involvement in the Holocaust.

¶7. (SBU) The largest party representing the ethnic

Hungarian minority in Romania is the UDMR (Democratic

Alliance of Hungarians in Romania), which is a member of the

ruling coalition government. Other ethnic Hungarian groups

have alleged that their attempts to register as opposition

parties have been blocked by the UDMR, which argues that the

Hungarian minorities' influence will be diluted if the

Hungarian vote is split among different parties. The UDMR

favors a relatively moderate approach to ethnic autonomy

issues, focusing on cultural and individual autonomy and

de-emphasizing territorial matters, while several radical

groups demand more autonomy now.

¶8. (SBU) The continuing failure of Romania to resolve

pending adoption cases filed by U.S. parents before Romania

imposed a ban on inter-country adoptions is a serious

concern, and has aroused strong congressional interest.

Despite calls from some members of the European Parliament

and the U.S. Congress for action to allow intercountry

adoptions to proceed, the Romanian government has not

followed through, claiming that the European Commission

remains opposed to amending the ban. Contrary to assertions

by Romanian officials that they have developed a model system

for orphans and abandoned children, the Embassy and other

international observers have observed clear evidence of

malnutrition and neglect in Romanian child welfare

institutions.

Taplin

Countries: Romania

Persons: Tom Lantos