§ Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Fallon.]
2.35 pm§ Mr. Neil Thorne (Ilford, South)I am delighted to have this opportunity to raise in the House the question of the relationship between the United Kingdom and Romania. I want to begin by congratulating my right hon. Friend the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the appointment of our ambassador in Bucharest. We are singularly fortunate that in that little backwater of the diplomatic service, where one would expect to find less able ambassadors, we have someone who is rising to the challenge.
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. William Waldegrave)There are no backwaters in our diplomatic service.
§ Mr. ThorneI am glad that my right hon. Friend has such confidence. I am afraid that I have met less able ambassadors in other posts. I wanted to say that we are very lucky to be represented in Bucharest by Michael Atkinson, our ambassador. His ability to deal with the situation is outstanding.
The last election in Romania was held in the 1940s and the winning party received 71 per cent of the vote and gained 71 of the seats in Parliament. Within a matter of weeks, that party was overturned by the Communists who have retained control ever since. That control culminated in the repressive reign of the dictator Ceausescu who was so hated throughout the world.
Ceausescu had built up a very efficient dictatorship ably supported by the Securitate which was largely composed of orphans and others who had been educated within his system and brought up to give him undying support. Such a situation is a threat to a country of that kind.
The Securitate was represented everywhere in Romania. It was not until I had the honour to visit Bucharest as a member of a very small Inter-Parliamentary Union delegation between 10 and 13 February that I had an opportunity to see exactly what had happened in that country. I discovered that the Securitate was represented in all walks of life including the corps de ballet. I had wrongly assumed that the Securitate was a full-time uniformed force which perhaps worked out of uniform at times. However, that was not the case and there were representatives in all walks of life, including the newspaper industry and, in fact, all other industries.
On 17 December, following the arrest of a Protestant priest who was ministering to the Hungarian minority in Timisoara, there was an uprising and a number of people were killed. The revolution spread to Bucharest on 22 December when Ceausescu appeared on the balcony of the Communist party headquarters. For the first time in his life Ceausescu was heckled. Many of us will remember seeing television pictures of the heckling and will recall how he reacted to what he must have thought was a terrible situation.
A student who shouted "Timisoara" was shot dead by Securitate members who were watching the rally from the buildings surrounding the square. Because most demonstrations in Romania were organised by the ruling party, the crowd at the back started to take up the cry of 1245 "Timisoara." That led, first, to the fleeing and, subsequently, to the execution of Ceausescu at the end of December last year.
The dictatorship in Romania had been extremely efficient and had repressed any activities by any other party. While we were in Bucharest, we met a journalist who had had the temerity to speak out mildly against the regime in early 1989. He had been arrested and held in the most appalling conditions for 11 months, which he described to us. He is now the editor of the main free-thinking newspaper in Bucharest. That editor told us that he was quite confident that, even among his staff he still had some representatives of the Securitate, which was extremely worrying. We must realise that, although there has been a revolution, the situation in Romania still leaves a lot to he desired.
During his reign, Ceausescu was inclined to have Cabinet reshuffles at regular intervals. During the reshuffles, people were put out of the Government, but, nevertheless, they were brought back sometimes five or 10 years later, provided that they behaved themselves. It was not unexpected that, on the shelf, were several people who had been active in supporting the Ceausescu regime but who were no longer in the Government and were available and willing to serve in the National Salvation Front, which also comprised certain other people who had taken part in the revolution. Many of them have now left. It is my distinct impression that the National Salvation Front is certainly controlled by, if it does not exclusively consist of, members who have been active Communists and supported the previous regime in Romania.
That means that the elections that are scheduled to take place on 20 May leave a short time for the electorate to be given an appropriate choice. The emerging political parties include the National Peasants party, which has joined forces with the Christian Democrats, and is the nearest akin to our own Conservative party. That party was put out of power back in the 1940s.
The Romanian Liberal party is very close to the National Peasants party, which is not surprising as the general secretary of the Liberal party and the president of the National Peasants party had the honour of sharing a cell together for about eight years after they were arrested by the Communist regime in the 1940s. Therefore, they get on with and understand one another very well. They could well form an alliance for the election, if not permanently.
The Social Democrat party, which was absorbed into the Communist party in the 1940s, has also re-emerged. There are two other fairly active and substantial parties. One is the Ecology party. The world knows that ecological problems in Romania are probably more serious than anywhere else. The intellectuals were anxious that note be taken of that and have formed their own party. The other substantial party, the Republican party, is in the course of being formed. In addition, there are no fewer than 40 parties. Any group of 251 people can form a nationally registered party. It is believed that a number of those 40 parties include ex-members of the Securitate, and that is also worrying.
The main difficulty is that the National Salvation Front took over at the end of December and still retains control. It controls the means of transport, production and distribution. Apparently the main Communist newspaper is a subscription newspaper. The subscription had to be paid if people hoped to get on in their jobs, to be promoted and even to retain their jobs. The subscriptions are 1246 collected in December each year and the collection was made at the end of last year. People who subscribed will receive the Communist newspaper for the whole of this year, whether they want it or not. The queues for the uncontrolled newspapers were extraordinary. They were usually a 100 or more yards long. People were hungry for real news of what was happening in the world and in particular in Romania.
That paints a difficult picture for parties trying desperately to reform and reorganise. There is so much for them to do. They have to recruit members, elect officers, write manifestos, choose candidates and publish their election addresses all before 20 May, less than 20 weeks from the beginning of the year. That is an impossible task if the process is to yield free and fair elections.
I understand that all the parties except the National Salvation Front believe that the election should be postponed until September. That would be a much more realistic date. The National Salvation Front is not so keen to postpone the election because it realised that a number of chickens will come home to roost between now and September, in particular the gross overmanning of industry. Three or four people often do one person's job.
The demonstrations that we have seen in recent weeks were often by people who were bussed in from the mines and elsewhere. People are genuinely worried that if there is a change of Government and the new Government believe in free enterprise, many will lose their jobs. They are anxious to carry on in the same old way as during the Communist regime.
My right hon. Friend the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office knows about the know-how fund which has been set up to educate people in the political system that we run in the West, and in particular in our country. I understand that a group of 12 Romanians is due to come to Britiah from 10 to 17 March. Again, I am worried that if the people who come are aligned to the National Salvation Front, we shall be disappointed that we have not had the opportunity to put our message over to people who are genuinely trying to learn how to build a party on which a free democracy and market economy can grow.
The French, Germans and Japanese are all anxious to take their business men into Romania to look into possible joint enterprises. That is certainly something which we shall have to do. But the lack of resources among the parties that have emerged since the beginning of this year is serious.
While we were in Romania obstructions were caused by the authorities. Some French MPs tried to take in photocopying equipment but were prevented from doing so by the customs and excise, who raised all sorts of problems which were sorted out only by a telephone call to the Prime Minister. We were told about demonstrations in which the National Peasants party was harassed and about attacks on cars driven by members of the Liberal party, while the police stood by and did nothing. All those are worrying signs.
The only real solution to the problem is that the election should be put off until September. We should do everything possible to encourage that. We should also encourage joint ventures and especially small businesses to grow and flourish so that they can lay the proper foundations for a true democracy and a genuine free market economy. Unless we give Romania help and 1247 encouragement to achieve those things, I fear that life in that country this time next year is likely to be very much as it was this time last year.
§ Mr. Tom Cox (Tooting)As the other vice-chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Union delegation that went to Romania, I support the comments of the hon. Member for Ilford, South (Mr. Thorne). Anyone who has been to Romania since the overthrow of the brutal Ceausescu regime must pay the deepest tribute to those Romanian men and women, many of them very young, who died fighting to try to ensure freedom and democracy in their country.
We have seen major events in the last two months. As the hon. Member for Ilford, South said, we have seen the emergence of major new political parties. Romania has a much freer press and churches are open and packed with people who wish to worship. However, as we were told and as we saw, there is still a deep fear about how much real democracy will be established in the run-up to the May elections and after them. There is clear evidence that many of the old Ceausescu guard are now making many of the day-to-day political decisions.
Britain and the EEC must use their power and contacts to ensure that the elections are free and that all parties contesting the elections, especially the four major ones, will have the same rights as the National Salvation Front. The West must not allow the price that the Romanian people paid to overthrow Ceausescu to have been paid in vain. It would be interesting to hear from the Minister the Government's attitude to the day-to-day accounts that we read and see on television about events in Romania.
We all know that Romania needs massive help. It needs financial help and technical know-how, training schemes for its work people and open markets in which to trade. If the elections are rigged and the Ceausescu gang returns under another guise, what do we do? We asked the Romanian people that question against the background of their needs. We were repeatedly told that in no way should we help to sustain the National Salvation Front in Power. The West must take account of that.
The people of Romania showed great friendship towards Britain and the British people. I repeat the question asked by the hon. Member for Ilford, South. What discussions are the Government having with British industry about the setting up of trading information offices in large cities in Romania? If that were done we could discuss with the Romanians the sort of trading that we are prepared to do. That is already being done by many of our European competitors. Major industries here have said that they are not prepared to put much money into Romania because of the uncertainty. However, that should not stop the beginning of trade discussions or the exchange of schemes through which the two countries could start to work together.
The British Council and the overseas service of the BBC are held in the very highest esteem by Romanians. What action do the Government intend to take to extend those services? We saw the work of the British Council at the embassy. On the day on which we were there we saw 20 or 30 people and we were told that this was a repeated occurrence, now that the people who wish to use the 1248 facilities of the British Council no longer have their passports checked, which is what used to happen. We saw the many English language books and tapes that were used by Romanians, the English language newspapers that people were reading. The facilities of the British Council are limited, yet there is massive goodwill towards it. What extra funding will be made available to develop its work?
What discussions are taking place with the BBC overseas service? We were told that during the days of Ceausescu the people of Romania listened to it because they believed that what it said was true. The hon. Member for Ilford, South and I discussed with BBC representatives talks on elections and democracy, such as those that the IPU is trying to establish in the seminars that it is running in London, and the possibility of that being given greater coverage by the overseas service. We need to study closely the possibility of that service being extended in Romania, and possibly in other central European countries.
I close my remarks by echoing what the hon. Member for Ilford, South said at the beginning of his speech. I pay the warmest tribute to our ambassador in Romania and to his staff. They were superb. They showed us kindness, despite the difficult conditions in which they operate. One can judge the status of diplomats from the reception shown to them. Wherever we went, warmth was shown to the ambassador and his staff. I hope that we shall pay them the tribute that they richly deserve. I am sure that the ambassador would say that he is the captain of an superb team—the hon. Member for Ilford, South and I agree about that—but I hope that the Minister and the Foreign Secretary note their views, because the information that they send back gives the true picture of what is happening in Romania today and shows the hopes of many people who belong to political parties or are members of organisations hoping to become democratic political parties.
Let us try to work together and ensure that the old guard, under whatever name it tries to surface, will not once again hold the reins of power and destroy that country and its people, as, sadly, it has done over the past 40 years.
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. William Waldegrave)I am delighted to have been asked to surrender a little of my time to allow for the excellent speeches of my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford, South (Mr. Thorne) and of the hon. Member for Tooting (Mr. Cox). They have put on record the up-to-date and accurate account of the situation in Romania. I say that I have surrendered my time, because The Observer, which does not understand the procedures of the House, once put me in the "quote of the year" for saying that I had only five minutes to speak in an Adjournment debate on Cambodia.
This has been a short debate, but it is important that both my hon. Friend and the hon. Member should have put their views to the House. There is little that I can add to the historical background that was put forward by my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford, South. Both my hon. Friend and the hon. Member spoke of the admiration of the British people for those young people and students who stood up to the authorities in Romania. As my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford, South said, I do not think that we fully understood the extent of the security 1249 apparatus that the Ceausescu regime had established. It was not like a normal secret police force. It penetrated every area of national life and had a network of informers everywhere. We now know that football teams were members of the Securitate. There was almost a state within a state, which condemned the country to live in perpetual fear. The country was right to live in fear because the slightest sign of dissidence was ruthlessly punished. Western diplomats were roughed up and mistreated in various ways.
I was glad to hear the warm tributes paid by my hon. Friend and the hon. Member to the embassy staff and to the ambassador. I should also mention the ambassador's wife and children, who went through extreme peril when, in the middle of the fighting, the embassy residence was destroyed after Securitate people put machine gun posts on the roof. I am glad to record that tribute, and we will pass it on.
We share the hon. Gentleman's view of the horrors uncovered at the end of the regime. I do not think that anybody has guessed their extent, in human rights terms or in the scale of the disaster.
My hon. Friend referred to the ecological and environmental disaster which has resulted in the establishment of the Ecology party, whose representatives I met. I found it impressive that they could get an environment movement going from a standing start.
The health horrors that have been uncovered were also mentioned. We have seen the appalling account of the AIDS-infected children, abandoned to die without any care. Britain and other countries are taking emergency steps to try to get help. The last time that I spoke to the House about Romania I announced that we were sending disposable syringes. I am happy to announce that we are doing more. We are to contribute another £20,000, which has been requested for training in the handling of AIDS patients. These are small matters, but help has been requested, and we are able to get it there quickly.
I pay tribute to the work done by my local television company, HTV, which filmed some of the so-called mental asylums—they are not asylums but prisons in which brain-damaged children were left to die. The brain damage is largely the result of environmental pollution on the one hand—heavy metals have damaged children—and on the other Ceausescu's appalling and mad policies to make all forms of contraception illegal, and to make abortion illegal. That meant that there was a huge back-street abortion industry, which produced many more abortions every year than live births, and left many brain-damaged live children.
I am happy to announce that we have responded to a project suggested to us by the Marie Stopes International Institute for a programme of family planning, to try to deal with the extraordinary situation in which there were 1250 300,000 live births in Romania last year and some 1.2 million abortions. It would be awful if, as I fear has happened in some other eastern countries, abortion became the recognised method of family planning. Therefore, we will fund emergency training by the Marie Stopes institute. A project, costing £53,000, is to go ahead straight away. Again, that is a small thing, but it is something that we can do quickly.
My hon. Friend and the hon. Member were quite right in saying that first, major programmes of emergency aid should be put in place, and they have been, largely by the European Community which sent £7.5 million worth of help quickly, and another £27 million package has been agreed since.
All those steps will help with the emergency, but the hon. Member and my hon. Friend are absolutely right. The long-term future of Romania depends on the building of free, democratic and genuine institutions. We cannot run Romania from here and we should not try. The Romanian people must have the democratic institutions to deal with the problem in the long term.
I entirely agree with the hon. Member for Tooting, who used exactly the words that I would have used, when he said that we should not be squeamish about using our power. It would be a betrayal of those people who fought so bravely if we were to allow the gains to be lost and the old gang—as he put it—to get back into power. We have been a little anxious about some of the symptoms of that which appeared during the past few weeks, and we have made our views clear, both bilaterally and through the European Community, whose medium-term economic aid, like our own, is conditional on steps towards the establishment of free economies, democratic institutions, and the rule of law. Commissioner Andriessen has been very good and very stalwart about making it clear that that is so, as did Secretary of State Baker in his brief visit to Bucharest, and so have we. The whole of the western world should make that clear. I entirely agree with what has been said on the subject.
Not everyone in the Salvation Front should be regarded with suspicion. We have had talks with Pastor Tokes, who still allows his name to be lent to that organisation. On the other hand Doina Cornea, who is someone that we greatly rspect, has resigned from it. It is not for us but for the Romanian people to choose who represents them. However, we have the legitimate right under the Helsinki Final Act to insist that those elections are properly conducted and that there is equal and proper access to the media before those elections take place.
§ The motion having been made after half-past Two o'clock, and the debate having continued for half an hour, MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER adjourned the House without Question put, pursuant to the Standing Order.
§ Adjourned at five minutes past Three o'clock.