EP Written Questions - reply Reding

Parliamentary questions

2 March 2011

E-010783/10 E-010915/10

Joint answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

Written questions : E-010783/10 , E-010915/10

The Commission has written to the editor of the newspaper ‘Jurnalul National’ to rectify the incorrect information published in the article referred by the Honourable Members.

The ‘official report’ referred to in the text is in fact a comparative study commissioned by the Commission in 2007 to an external contractor (the law firm Demolin-Brulard-Barthelemy) chosen by means of an open tender procedure. The study followed a request by several Members of the European Parliament as well as a number of complaints from citizens and associations about practical difficulties faced in intra-EU adoptions. It was foreseen in the EU's ‘Civil Justice’ programme, set up in 2007. The contractor carried out the study independently: the revisions of the work in progress were requested by the Commission only to reflect the agreed terms of reference in accordance with the financial regulations. This is the normal procedure to ensure the consultant delivers exactly what was contractually agreed. The study was published in its entirety on the website of the European Judicial Network in civil and commercial matters on 16 December 2009(1).

At international level, it must be recalled that the EU is not a member to the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption and this matter remains the competence of Member States.

However, even if this matter remains under the competence of Member States, the Commission is following closely the issue of international adoption within the European Union.

(1) http://ec.europa.eu/civiljustice/publications/publications_en.htm