The deportation flights from the United Kingdom to Romania are carried out under a bilateral agreement in the field of home affairs on the readmission of persons and are not a new mechanism, and with the most recent of these flights only Romanian citizens were returned to the country, Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE) reported on Thursday.
MAE made some clarifications for the charter flight organised by the authorities of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for the return of some Romanian citizens.
"The migrant return flights from the United Kingdom to Romania are carried under a bilateral agreement in the field of home affairs on the readmission of persons, signed in 2003, and are not a new mechanism. With the most recent of these flights, only people with Romanian citizenship were returned to Romania. The flight is not the first of its kind and is a tool frequently used by the UK authorities to avoid the detention of Romanian citizens on British soil longer than necessary," MAE explained in a press statement released on Thursday.
According to MAE, other options for a quick return are voluntary departure programmes such as Early Removal Scheme ERS, Facilitated Return Scheme FRS and Voluntary Return Scheme VRS.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that it is regrettable and worrying that Romania has been singled out in relation to the migrant return flights, which are organised by the Home Office to multiple destinations. At the same time, it is regrettable that by inviting a journalist (according to the ITV journalist's statement) this flight was taken out of context and negatively exploited. Romania being singled out in relation to deportation flights has the potential to trigger negative discrimination, hate speech and negative narratives directed at the entire Romanian community, and MAE expresses its deep concern in that regard. These messages were sent by the Romanian authorities and the British authorities," according to MAE.
According to the ministry, the vast Romanian community in the United Kingdom is a well-integrated one, making significant contributions to the local economy and social life.
"It is expected that in such a large community - 1.3 million Romanian citizens with residence status (EUSS) - there will be statistically exceptions with illegal activities. At the same time, the way in which this September return flight was presented does not reflect the general level of bilateral relations, which is excellent in all other areas of cooperation," said MAE.
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