The Honorable George W. Bush
The White House
Washington, DC

Dear Mr. President:

We are writing to urge you to place a "career" diplomat, rather than a political appointee, in the position of U.S. Ambassador to Romania. Romania is the second largest populated country in Eastern Europe, strategically located, with a population of over 22 million people. It has, and continues to struggle with a myriad of complex problems. It is vital to Romania, and is also in the best interest of the United States, to have a strong and highly experienced U.S. diplomat, trained to evaluate the dynamics operating within Romania and Eastern Europe and skilled at conveying our government's messages without equivocation.

The two previous ambassadors to Romania have been political appointees. Each has brought areas of strength and each has had successes. However, Romania is not the Bahamas. It is not a country to which one is assigned as a "reward" for loyal service. It is an important country in a part of the world that has seen major changes over the last decade.

The problematic situation in Romania demands the most seasoned professional diplomatic counsel that the U.S. can provide. We urge you to appoint a career diplomat to Bucharest as our Ambassador to Romania.

Thank you for understanding our position as Romanian Americans in this matter,

Armand A. Scala
President

His Excellency Ion Iliescu, President
His Excellency Adrian Năstase, Prime Minister
Government
Romania

Dear Mr. President:
Dear Mr. Prime Minister:

The new government of Romania has two very capable leaders in you. The Parliament, as it is now constituted, is capable of consensus and is able to change the direction of the country toward real progress and away from the problems that bring the country down and make the lives of her people so difficult.

Last week's passage of the new security law, and the law including the necessity of foreigners to register with police, if they reside for, or visit, more than 15 days in one domicile, smacks of Ceauşescu's communist era.

Everyone in the US and Canada, and most probably the rest of the world, has taken notice of these laws. The Romanian-American community is hemorrhaging over them and their attitudes toward your government are fast returning to those they held in the early 1990s. They are wrong, I hope, but so are those laws.

Mr. President and Mr. Prime Minister, please return these laws to the Parliament. I urge you not to promulgate them.

Armand Scala
President, Congress of Romanian Americans

To the Editor:

As a footnote to your January 31 editorial Voiceless America, the Broadcasting Board of Governors' recent decision to reduce the Romanian Service of the Voice of America radio broadcasts to 15 minutes (made public 48 hours prior to the inauguration of the new administration) could not come at a worse time. Romania is the largest state in the Balkans, and Moldova, where the service also broadcasts, is the only successor state in the European part of the former Soviet Union where the Russian army continues to be deployed. In fact, the US Broadcasting Board cut the short wave delivery system to Moldova nearly a year ago, eliminating Romanian language broadcasts to that country. VOA now only broadcasts in Russian to the country where the majority population is Romanian. What kind of message does this send?

Any impartial observer will agree that this is not a time to cut VOA's direct communication by radio with millions of Romanians and Moldovans. Asked if the Board had consulted the National Security Council on the foreign policy implications of the new VOA cuts including Romanian, VOA Director Sanford Ungar answered "No". The silencing of VOA Romanian programs to the struggling democracies of Romania and Moldova is a huge disservice to the United States and an immense disservice to millions of loyal listeners of the VOA in both target areas. VOA radio broadcasting to Romania and Moldova should be reinstated as a direct and powerful tool of America's public diplomacy. VOA's mission - to serve America's long-range interests by direct communication with the people at large - must necessarily include the critical areas of Romania and Moldova.

Armand A. Scala
President, Congress of Romanian Americans

Communicating with your elected officials... The Federal Voting Assistance Program has a website that you should visit. It gives a great deal of information about Congress, Governors, and other important political information: http://www.fvap.ncr.gov.

NATO... A new link on our website can give you current, daily, information on NATO enlargement. Go to http://www.expandNATO.org and once there, go to "NATO Enlargement Daily Briefing".

"Restitution: A Romanian Şmecherie"... is the title of the lead article in the "Romanian Digest". Go to our link Herzfeld & Rubin. At that site, select "Romanian Digest" and then the March issue. The article was written by one of CORA's Vice Presidents, Mark Meyer, Esq.

Romanian Reports... Daily reports of Romania and other countries in the region can be found at our link http://www.rferl.org/.org/newsline/4-see.html - then scroll down nearly to the end and you will find Romanian Daily Highlights. If you would like to see previous stories, go to our link http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/ then go to Magazine and to Romania. These are provided with the permission of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. There is a wealth of good material at this website.

Romanian Cultural Events... Periodically check the link on our webpage "Romanian Embassy" and go to "Art and Culture" for upcoming events. Two events are scheduled for the week beginning April 23^rd.

Moldova: Consenting Victim to Russian Military Occupation? The Jamestown Foundation covers, among other nations, Moldova. Check out on our website, the link http://www.jamestown.org.

The Central & East European Coalition (CEEC) is a coalition of 18 U.S. national umbrella organizations that represent up to 22 million Americans whose origins are from that part of the world. CORA is a founding member of the CEEC.

The coalition had its first formal meeting in December of 1994. That meeting was hastily called in reaction to remarks made by then Secretary of State, Christopher. Some of us felt those remarks hinted of the U.S. "looking the other way", if necessary, to Russian expansion.

A summit between President Clinton and President Yeltsin was scheduled for January 15, 1995 in Moscow, and the coalition members wanted to influence those proceedings. The coalition organized the mailing of a number of messages, to the White House in advance of the summit, each fundamentally saying "No Yalta II". The White House received approximately 10.000 messages prior to the summit as a result of the coalition's effort. Nothing of what Secretary Christopher hinted was discussed at the summit.

Since December of 1994, the CEEC has met virtually every week. The CEEC does all of its work by consensus and supports one another. They lobby where interests are shared, for example, US security issues (including NATO enlargement and for increased foreign economic expenditures in support of US interests, and other issues.

The CEEC includes very large ethnic American groups like the Polish American community and those that are smaller like the Estonian American community. It supports the whole of these communities in areas of shared goals thus, 22 million Americans bring their weight to the table of "official Washington".

The Congressional Caucus on Romania is a bi-partisan organization dedicated to fostering a long term and fruitful relationship between Romania and the United States.

The Congressional Caucus on Romania is concentrating its attention and energy on enhancing the political and economic cooperation between Romania and the United States, providing guidance and support for Romania's integration into western and transatlantic structures and encouraging direct business and trade relations between the two countries.

The Caucus has annual meetings at members level. Among its main accomplishments are the introduction of legislation on Romania, Statements for the Record in favor of Romania's OSCE Chairmanship in Office for the year 2001, "Dear Colleague" letter addressed to President Clinton requesting support for resuming the commercial traffic on the Danube.

The Caucus has been established in the 105^th Congress. Its current membership is:

Solomon Ortiz (D, TX), Co-Chairman
Ralph Regula (R, OH), Co-Chairman
Garry Ackerman (D, NY)
Ken Bentsen (D, TX)
Shelley Berkley (D, NV)
David Bonior (D, MI)
Norman Dicks (D, WA)
Jim Gibbons (R, NV)
Benjamin Gilman (R, NY)
Bart Gordon (D, TN)
Joseph Knollenberg (R, MI)
Tom Lantos (D, CA)
Edward Markey (D, MA)
Joe Pitts (R, PA)
Fred Upton (R, MI)

Honorary Members:
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D, LA)
Sen. John Ensign (R, NV)

CORA member, the Romanian American Chamber of Commerce, asked for a meeting with high level personnel at the World Bank to review the Bank's plan for Romania. The meeting, held at the Bank on February 15, 2001, was teleconferenced throughout the US. Approximately 40 persons attended the meeting.

The World Bank announced it is in a position to lend up to 1-1/2 billion dollars to Romania over a 3 to 4 year period, provided specified milestones are achieved by the country. Romania has fallen off of the "World Bank's track" an unprecedented six times, resulting in the severing of Bank funds. If history repeats itself, the Bank will not support Romania to the 1-1/2 billion dollar level.

The Bank's plan for Romania, "Country Assistance Strategy", can be found at http://www.worldbank.org/romaniacas.

• The Central and East European Coalition
• The Romanian-American Task Force: The Center for Strategic and International Studies
• Campaign to Preserve US Global Leadership
• Romanian and Moldovan - American Chambers of Commerce
• "One America" President's Initiative
• Partner in Census 2000