MAE:Romanians at Austria's border with Hungary can cross Hungarian territory according to the instructions of authorities

The Romanian citizens who are currently at the border between Austria and Hungary can cross the neighboring country's territory as of 12:00hrs, Hungary's time, until the blockage is clear, and the transit is allowed everyday, between 21:00hrs and 05:00hrs, Hungary's time, on the routes indicated by this country's authorities, a release of the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) informs. The blockage at the border between Austria and Hungary reappeared on Wednesday morning, because not all the Romanian citizens at the mentioned border managed to enter Hungary toward Romania last night. In this context, the MAE shows that Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu had a new discussion with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto, in view of identifying a new solution for ensuring the transit and the return to the country of the Romanian citizens. The MAE believes that "solutions such as those identified together with the Hungarian authorities, which allow European citizens to transit neighboring countries in view of returning safe to their resident countries, should continue to be implemented, solidarity currently being essential for solving the humaritanian situations caused by the measures adopted for the management and prevention of COVID-19 infection spreading." At the same time, the MAE argues that the free movement of merchandise/goods within the European Union should be observed by all member states, thus, ensuring the supply with the goods necessary to manage this unprecedented crisis. According to the MAE, in the context of the constant efforts for facilitating the return to the country of the Romanian citizens who are temporarily abroad and who don't have any real alternatives to remain in the states in which they currently are, continue the demarches to identify optimal solutions in the shortest time possible, including through dialogue with other states whose citizens are in similar situation, within the limits of the concert possibilities of action, which are increasingly smaller, as various states take self-protection measures. The Ministry informs that on Tuesday, a number of 170 Romanian citizens returned to the country: 59 who had been blocked on the airport in Budapest, 23 in Morocco and 118 in Egypt. Moreover, on Wednesday, other 78 Romanian citizens returned to the country from Jordan, as a result of the demarches made by Romania's Embassy in Amman, and steps are currently being taken for the repatriation of some groups of Romanian citizens who are in Portugal, Morocco, Egypt and Malta. AGERPRES (RO - author: Oana Ghita, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - author: Rodica State, editor: Adina Panaitescu)