Mr. Speaker. last summer. we reauthorized mostfavored nation status for Romania. We did so only after receiving assurance by the Romanian Government that they would permit free emigration and that harassment of religious and ethnic minorities would cease. Immediately prior to our consideration of Romanias trade status. the situation appeared to improve. And. disappointingly. during the months immediately after the reauthorization. the situation grew alarmingly worse. For example. look at the "education tax" the Romanian Government implemented 3 months after our reauthorizing MFN for their country. The tax made emigration practically impossible by requiring that anyone desiring to emigrate repay the government for all secondary and postsecondary education received. This tax has to be paid in Western currency. Yet no Romanian is permitted to possess such currency.
Keywords matched
emigrate emigration