Romania is not in danger and there is no state involved in the conflict in the Middle East that is targeting Romanian territory, Minister of Foreign Affairs Oana Toiu told a press briefing on Sunday evening.

‘Romania is not in danger, there is no state involved in the conflict in the region that at this moment is targeting Romanian territory. Moreover, there has been information in the public space regarding potential attacks on a European Union member state, on Cyprus, and we communicated very clearly following discussions with officials in Cyprus, I also spoke with the Foreign Minister of Cyprus, that this information is not confirmed. None of the European Union member states has been targeted by an attack and we do not expect any to be targeted. At the same time, however, it is to be expected that the level of alert, the perceived level of risk, will clearly be higher for everyone once we see not only the conflict in the region but also its wider effects,’ the Foreign Minister said.

According to the head of Romanian diplomacy, all Romania’s diplomatic missions and offices in the region affected by the conflict are coordinating with the consular network of the other European Union states in order to jointly provide assistance to Romanian and European citizens and to coordinate political dialogue with the leaders of the countries in the region.

The Foreign Affairs minister mentioned that in the coming days, for the entire duration of the activation of the Ministry’s crisis cell, press conferences will be held so that accurate information reaches Romanian citizens in good time.

‘We thank the Romanians who have shown resilience during this period. We know this is a time of heightened anxiety, we know that everyone would like to be at home and this is a need and a wish that we understand, we are making plans to make this possible as soon as possible, while maintaining priority for their safety at this moment. This is what we are working on both with our international partners and within the European Union, at the level of consular services as well as political dialogue, which can gradually lead to de-escalation,’ Oana Toiu underlined.

She reiterated the request for Romanian citizens in the conflict area to send their contact details to the consular offices.

‘(…) the request is for them to register so that we can have their contact details in order to be able to call them back and contact citizens when there is essential information. We maintain our recommendation to follow the information provided by the local authorities as well as the social media pages of the missions in the respective country, as we will also update those pages when the situation on the ground changes. There is also an application that we launched at the beginning of this year, developed in previous years, ‘Calatoreste informat” [‘Travel informed’]. It can be downloaded free of charge on a mobile phone and it also includes a form to register travel so that through this tool as well we can communicate back with Romanian citizens,’ the Foreign minister said.

At the same time, Oana Toiu informed that there are several groups of children who were on trips in countries in the Middle East and stressed that they are safe.

‘It is very important to clarify that at this moment we have several groups of minors who are not with their parents but with accompanying adults. The groups of minors who have remained stranded in states in the Middle East are safe, they are currently accommodated, have access to food and have been and remain in contact with consular teams. This does not mean that the situation does not continue to cause concern, it does not mean that we do not remain aligned with the priority of bringing them home as soon as possible, provided that we can do so safely,’ the Minister of Foreign Affairs also said.

AGERPRES