Oana Țoiu responds to Victor Ponta, after he accused her of ordering the exclusion of his daughter from the evacuation in the conflict zone: "We cannot make hierarchies"

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Oana Țoiu, stated on Thursday that "we cannot make hierarchies" and turn the crisis of Romanians stranded in Dubai into "political bickering" after former Prime Minister Victor Ponta accused her of personally intervening for his daughter to be left off the evacuation plane.

Oana Țoiu responded on Facebook that she is also a mother, but that consular teams cannot make exceptions and that the established emergency criteria must be respected.

She explained that, as a parent, she understands the concerns, but must prioritize school groups and high-risk medical cases.

Țoiu mocked Ponta's statements, mentioning that the situation should not be turned into a political dispute. She also assured that the political affiliation of the parents does not influence the selection of minors for evacuation and that the priority remains the safety of Romanian citizens.

"The political affiliation of the parents is not information that should be part of the requested details and cannot be a criterion for prioritization. It is not the minister who should decide who has seats in front, nor whether someone is sick or not. The minister must decide that political affiliation does not become a criterion for evacuations," said Țoiu.

Victor Ponta stated that Oana Țoiu gave the personal order for his daughter to be left off the evacuation plane, an accusation initially launched by Dana Budeanu.

What are the evacuation criteria

According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, regarding priority medical cases, solutions are currently being sought for pregnant women to "reduce the risk of the impact of air raid alerts on pregnancy and we continue to seek urgent solutions for minors." Thus, she emphasizes that school groups of children and high-risk medical cases are prioritized.

"The order in which people are boarded onto planes is based on the age of the children and medical urgency. I do not have medical lists of individuals. A person under 18 years old, if there are enough seats, meets the boarding conditions, but if there are not enough seats. Any person, I am not interested in their name, was not allowed to board because they do not meet the criteria," said the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Andrei Țărnea, on Romania TV.