Romania caught between opposing demands of EU and NATO

Romania caught between opposing demands of EU and NATO

8 apr. 2002 (updated: 29 jan. 2010)

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The US Congress could hamper Romania’s bid to join NATO unless the country lifts its moratorium on child adoptions. Romania banned international adoptions of children in June 2001 under pressure from the EU that condemned the practice as human trafficking.

The US Mission in Brussels has sent a letter to the Commission, arguing that many families in the US want to adopt Romanian children. The note warns that a continued moratorium on adoptions would “create potential problems in our Congress at the time of congressional debates on Romania’s candidacy for Nato accession”.

International adoptions of Romanian children were banned in June 2001 after the European Parliament adopted a rapport, condemning the practice as a “profitable trade in child trafficking”. Domestic adoptions have increased by 50 percent since the introduction of the moratorium. Whilst international adoptions cost 50,000 US dollars, domestic adoptions are free.

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