Romanian orphans are, once again, on Brussels' agenda. Elsewhere in the news, reporters talked to the family of the Romanian woman investigated for the kidnap of a British boy in Pakistan. Last but not least, Romanian might be recognised as the official language in the Republic of Moldova.

Romanian orphans are, once again, on Brussels' agenda, Evenimentul Zilei reads. The European Parliament Petitions Commission is discussing today Italy's petition for unblocking the international adoptions in the case of Romanian children. Romania has banned international adoptions in 2005.

Romania's representative social-democrat Victor Bostinaru already announced that he was against the petition. He's facing Commission’s president Italian Erminia Mazzoni, who's supporting her co-nationals, namely the "Amici dei Bambini" ('Friends of Children) organisation, which shows that Romania is allegedly breaking the children’s' rights and asks for sanctions.

But the EC members encouraged Romania to oppose the right for foreign citizens to adopt Romanian children. Romania says there will be no favour for Italy because Italy is having issues with its child protection system and it breached the agreement for the repatriation of Romanian minors.

There is also the fear of going back to "business with orphans". There have been children that disappeared after international adoptions. 11 children have been sold to the US with false documents in the '90s and police have not managed to find the children yet, one example goes.

Judicial sources underline the issue of human traffic. Foreign families have been helped to buy birth certificates belonging to poor Romanian children and they used them to get other children out of the country, children that have been abandoned and had no papers. According to the Romanian authorities, in some cases lawyers or notaries helped out, or the adoption was made without any third party.

In the spring of 2006, several months before Romania joined the EU, 400 MEPs signed a petition requesting Romania to unblock international adoptions. Five liberal MEPs have planned this petition and two of them, Claire Gibault and Jean- Marie Cavada, went on with the lobby, paying unexpected visits to Romanian maternities and centres for child protection to raise proofs for the necessity of Romanian orphans to be adopted by foreign citizens. For the time being, the authorities are considering only the adoption of Romanian children only in the case of parents residing overseas.

Adevarulreporters talked to the family of the Romanian woman investigated for the kidnap of a British boy in Pakistan. Monica Neruja (24) and her husband Sageiz Muhammad are currently arrested in Spain. Her family is still in shock. Her father seemed to be convinced his daughter is innocent. He said that last Sunday he had spoken with his daughter and everything seemed to be all right.

Behind the bars, Monica Neruja declares her innocence. Her father said she phoned on Friday night from a prison in Tarragona (Spain) and told him she was not actually involved in the kidnap. She said she would be free this week, after her lawyer would have had access to the file and would have been able to show her innocence. According to her father, she claims it is a set-up.

Monica's father blames her future Pakistani husband. He says his daughter came for a month in Galati (Romania) to take her exams, while her husband was in Pakistan and nobody knew what he was doing. Their wedding was planned to take place in one month.

Spanish press quotes the boy's father Raja Saeed saying he was threatened to pay the ransom and was told he would be mailed with his boy's fingers. When he told the kidnappers he did not have the money, he was told that the boy could be equipped with explosive and blown up and he could get the remaining in a waste bag.

Monica, her husband Sageiz Mouhamed (33) and Zahed Salem Muhammad are accused of setting up the kidnap of a 5-year old boy with double citizenship: British and Pakistani, and for asking a 100,000 euros ransom in his return. Sahil Saeed was saved and on Friday he was back with his family. Investigators from four countries worked on the case and the accused were brought to face accusations in Tarragona Tribunal. The child was kidnapped from his grandparents' house by four persons armed with Kalashnikovs.

Romanian might be recognised as the official language of the Republic of Moldova, Romania Libera reads. The project of Moldavia's new constitution was presented this Saturday by the commission for constitutional reform and entails that the Romanian language be designated the state's official language.

Constitutional law experts led by Victor Popa have offered two versions for this particular law article: the official language is Romanian or the official language of the Republic of Moldova is established through an organic law. The project also sees that the president stops being elected by the Parliament and is chosen by the people instead. The final project is to be sent to the Venice Commission for authorisation.