Presidents Conference Urges U.S. to Continue Mfn for Rumania

The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations today called on the United States to continue most favored nation trade status for Rumania.

Warren Eisenberg, director of the International Council of B’nai B’rith International, one of the groups that comprise the Presidents Conference, told a hearing of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade that the most favored nation (MFN) status not only provides leverage, tying Rumanian emigration to trade with the U.S., but helps that Communist country to maintain some independence from the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact.

Eisenberg noted that the Presidents Conference has supported renewal of MFN with Rumania every year since 1975, even though it has sometimes been dissatisfied with the number of Jews permitted to emigrate.

Conceding that the decrease over the last several years can be partly explained “by the aging character of the Rumanian Jewish community,” he added that the drop also reflected the Rumanian government’s policy of discouraging emigration by limiting the number of passports.

The B’nai B’rith official noted that Rumania was concerned about a “brain drain” — the loss of skilled and educated people — and instituted an education tax on emigrants to slow the flow. But after the public concern by both the Presidents Conference and the Reagan Administration, President Nicolae Ceausesu of Rumania revoked the tax and assured the White House that he would not place any further economic or procedural barriers to emigration.

RATIONALE FOR PRESERVING MFN

Eisenberg said the Presidents Conference believes that preserving MFN status for Rumania is important because it has “provided leverage for increasing” the number of emigrants and resolving some “stubbom” cases. Last year, he said, the dialogue between the Presidents Conference and the Rumanian government “helped produce the best year for emigration to Israel since 1976. We are confident that the numbers will continue to climb substantially and that 1983 … will be a good year for Jewish emigration to Israel.”

In addition, Eisenberg said, the trade treaty makes “good diplomatic sense” because Rumania’s foreign policy “is the most independent of any Warsaw Pact country.” Rumania is the only Warsaw Pact nation that maintains formal diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel, he pointed out.

“The very fact that Rumania enjoys good relations with both sides in the Middle East conflict has enabled it to play a constructive role in furthering peace in the region,” Eisenberg said. He also stated that experience with Rumania proves that the Jackson-Vanik trade agreement is “an effective tool in achieving freer emigration,” citing the revocation of the education tax as an example.

“Were it not for Jackson-Vanik and the standards it established for favored trade status with the United States, the Rumanian government might never have reconsidered its action,” the B’nai B’rith executive said.

“The fact that the tax was lifted last month, the fact that Rumania is continuing to allow substantial emigration not only to Israel but to the U.S. and other countries is a tribute to Jackson-Vanik and its own best testimony that this landmark piece of human rights legislation should be retained as is.”