Romania and the Refugee Crisis

The first Syrian
refugees arriving in Romania have been taken over by the Regional Accommodation
and Procedure Centre for Asylum-Seekers in Timisoara, western Romania. They are
four citizens found in a railway station with no documents on them, who said
they wanted to reach Germany and requested asylum in Romania.

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Corina Cristea, 06.10.2015, 13:30

The first Syrian
refugees arriving in Romania have been taken over by the Regional Accommodation
and Procedure Centre for Asylum-Seekers in Timisoara, western Romania. They are
four citizens found in a railway station with no documents on them, who said
they wanted to reach Germany and requested asylum in Romania.

According to
official data, Romania is not subject to any pressure with regard to migration,
with 944 asylum applications registered this year, as compared to 900 in 2014.
The Romanian Government, however, has taken precautionary measures and has rendered operational two camps in
the west of the country, with a capacity of 500 places each. Besides immediate
measures, the Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta has warned that the
situation is unsatisfactory with regard to this country’s capacity to integrate
refugees.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta:

There
are several issues here that need to be addressed, such as getting the
necessary documents, accessing
health-care services, especially for the elderly, and children accessing
education services, not to mention integration and access to jobs. So far,
Romania’s stand and mentality have been the proper ones, and I believe it’s our
duty to properly understand the scale and significance of this phenomenon at
European level, and be prepared for any type of challenge. We need to have in
place the necessary mechanisms, which
would ensure not only prevention, but also integration, when the right moment
comes.

According to the European
Commission’s plan to relocate 120,000 migrants among the 28 EU member states,
Romania has been allocated another 2475 refugees, adding to the 1785 that
Bucharest had announced it could receive. Prime Minister Victor Ponta says
authorities and institutions should make a joint effort, given that regulations
regarding the protection of refugees, of children and people in need have not
yet been properly transposed into the national legislation. Romanian
authorities can only spend 0,8 Euro per day for each refugee who reaches
Romanian soil, because this is what a law of 2006 says, but this law must be
amended, the prime minister has also stressed. In turn, the opposition has
voiced its availability to support whatever measures may be needed, for Romania
to display solidarity with the rest of Europe.

Here is liberal deputy Ionut
Stroe:

You’ve
got Parliament’s support, at least in statements, but we need to turn these
statements into reality and come up with legislative proposals that would
create the necessary social integration and health-care mechanisms, and all
those things that you have mentioned.

Also, Ionut Stroe has stated that
Romania is one of the very few countries that still have an embassy in Syria,
and this is a reality that should be capitalized on.