Over 1,000 Romanians returned from the Middle East. Oana Țoiu: “We have no reports indicating, anywhere in the world, that a minor was dropped”

The head of Romanian diplomacy said on Friday evening that with the arrival of the plane from Muscat at Otopeni Airport, the first flight organized by Romania through the European Civil Protection Mechanism, the number of citizens who returned to Romania from the Middle East passed the 1,000 mark.

Oana Țoiu stated that there are still “minors and adults who are waiting to return home safely”.

“We continue to make efforts for this. We have activated, in the countries where the security situation has allowed us, land transfer plans to countries with open airspace, repatriations assisted by consular support. The next evacuation flight is to be prepared for vulnerable cases in risk situations, we continue together with our European partners and with the support of the authorities in the affected states to support the return of Romanians home as quickly as possible,” the minister said, on Friday evening, in a post on Facebook.

She urged Romanians not to wait for evacuation flights if there are options for commercial flights.

“The return home is done through individual plans, through the commercial routes with flights assisted by us and for few cases with a degree of risk and limited access to other solutions through evacuation flights, to the extent of the aircraft's capacity and planning in time based on the cases formally reported with requests in those countries”, explained the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Oana Țoiu accuses a series of “false” information

The minister said that the seats intended for Romania on the plane that came to Bucharest from Muscat were fully occupied, and “the Romanian citizens registered in advance in the databases announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since the beginning of the crisis and at the consulate's official email address”.

“On these channels, it was not possible to identify the parents' request for assistance for the unaccompanied minor, nor the self-notification in the travel application regarding the presence in the respective space.

We have no reports indicating, anywhere in the world, that a minor was taken off the transfers or flights organized by us or assisted by the consular teams (The information that a minor was taken off the bus on the road or from the plane at the airport is false information)”, continued Oana Țoiu.

She said that she instructed those who called her to report cases of Romanians stuck in the Middle East to “register through the official channels communicated by the MFA and follow the latest information.”

“Citizens' trust is vital in a crisis situation”

The head of diplomacy specified that she “discussed with the consul about the evacuation flight at the time when the group was complete in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Muscat.”

“However, I asked something related to institutional responsibility, whether the field team managed to include everyone from the established criteria, whether they managed to call all reported medical cases and whether we still know about other groups of children”, added Oana Țoiu.

“The consul was the one who mentioned that, in addition to the official information until then, he also has the special case of an unaccompanied minor. My answer was that, in any change he would make to the composition of the already established group or in any evacuation plan presented to anyone, he should first make sure that the others from the vulnerable categories with a degree of risk enrolled in consular care through formal channels have access to the same information and equal treatment,” continued the minister.

She said that “the trust of citizens is vital in a crisis situation” and the consul “must ensure that the established rules and decisions previously communicated in official frameworks are respected.”

“The free evacuation flight had no changes, from the information I have, compared to the formal confirmations made by the consulate, and the unaccompanied minor has had safe options for repatriation since yesterday,” Oana Țoiu also declared.

Minister Oana Țoiu's statements come in the context in which former prime minister Victor Ponta accused her of making the decision and asked the Dubai consul that his 17-year-old daughter should not be on the list of passengers on the repatriation plane assisted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement for the Daily. Ponta's ex-wife, Daciana Sârbu, confirmed her daughter's return to the country this evening.

In parallel, a lawyer and the party led by Cristian Popescu Piedone submitted notifications to the DNA regarding the way in which the repatriation of the teenager was managed.