Poland of course is the other. And as is true in the case of Poland. there will soon be a great deal of pressure put on the administration to cushion the Government of Romania from the otherwise inevitable consequences of its disastrous economic policies. "Provide still more credits. lend them additional money. subsidize their purchases of American products." will go the refrain. "Help them to rebuild their economy so they can pay the debt." It seems to me not unlikely that the United States will agree to reschedule the Romanian debt. The only queston is: Will the United States insist. as a condition of the rescheduling. on real progress in the areas of human rights and emigration? It bears repeating that Nicolae Ceausescus muchpublicized "independence" from the Soviet Union in matters of foreign policy has no domestic parallel. Indeed. the daily violations of basic human rights and civil liberties in the Soviet Union may be exceeded only by the arbitrary and brutal treatment Romanians receive from their own government. Even when the Romanian Government has entered into formal international commitments to improve the states observations of human rightsas in the commitment made to the United States to allow free emigration when Most Favored Nation trading status was granted several years agoRomanias record has not improved. Because the Senate will soon be called upon to review Romanias record of compliance with that particular commitment. when the time comes next summer to consider renewal of Romainias MFN status. and also because the United States is now confronted with the issue of Romanias unpaid debt. I think it important to keep in mind what life is like in Romania.
Keywords matched
emigration