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

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06BUCHAREST1298 2006-08-18 17:10 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Bucharest
VZCZCXYZ0023
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBM #1298/01 2301710
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 
 
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