We start the Holy Week celebration yesterday.
The terrorist attacks on Christians from Kenya, from Egypt, Syria, Libya or Nigeria, have put an unprecedented emotional load on Christians everywhere. Religious intolerance, extremism and radical groups extending their territories and their threats are becoming rather too frequent.
Romanians are not spared by this unrest. We are particularly worried by the situation of those trapped in Yemen where the conflict is close to reach the level of full scale regional war. Romanian Foreign Ministry efforts are welcomed and I salute the successful evacuation of 17 co-nationals. Unfortunately, the warnings that I launched on Yemen situation as early as January did not meet the needed response. It became obvious that issuing a simple travel warning is not enough, especially when those targeted are faced with a choice between short-term safety and the only income source.
As a member of European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee I will bring the issue of Romanian citizens trapped in the conflict zone into the discussion of European Institutions. This situation unfortunately, is nor a singular one and does not concern only Romanian citizens.
I hope that Romanian authorities will put more effort in helping those Romanians that are facing today’s grave dangers and to come up with a quick solution to extract those left in conflict zone, in close cooperation both with our partners from the European Union and with the coalition of Arab Countries, which recently launched a big scale military action in Yemen.
In this Holly Week I wish, alongside all the other Christians, a more peaceful future and a ray of hope in this darkness of terrorism and intolerance that has grown roots in the very heart of Europe since the last years.
