The European Union (EU) has applied an anti-inter-country adoption (ICA) policy in Romania as part of EU accession conditionality, while after 2007 the EU promoted a pro-ICA approach. Romania had to overhaul its child protection system and ban ICA before it could become an EU member, while its current legislation maintains the ban on ICA. However, since 2007 the EU has been demanding that Romanian authorities resume ICA from Romania. This article examines the factors and processes which shaped the EU's 'chameleonic' policy on ICA in relation to Romania. The child protection system in Romania still faces significant shortcomings. However, it is shown that the EU's embrace of a pro-ICA policy after 2007 does not constitute a response to the problems faced by child protection in Romania. On the contrary, the EU's plea for the liberalization of ICA from Romania is the outcome of a combination of endogenous factors, such as the EU's own embrace of a children's rights policy and its biased interpretation of key international instruments on ICA and child rights, and exogenous factors, such as adoption lobbies, which succeeded in getting their grievances onto the agenda of EU institutions.
I N T R O D U C T I O NThis article examines how and why the European Union (EU)'s position on the provision of international adoption from Romania radically shifted after 2007. It will be shown that the EU's policy position regarding inter-country adoption (ICA) in Romania changed from a staunch ICA critic during the enlargement process to a supporter of ICA from Romania after 2007. However, what factors explain the EU's 'chameleonic' policy on international adoption from Romania? By drawing on the empirical case of EU intervention in the issue of international adoption in Romania before and after 2007, it will be demonstrated that both exogenous and endogenous factors shaped the EU's radical shift from an anti-ICA stance to an ICA advocate after 2007. As part of EU accession conditionality, the EU demanded that