Romania: Edwardson and Murphy-Scheumann Meeting with Romanian Officials

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/