Victor Ponta published a message on his Facebook page on Saturday, after his daughter arrived safely in Romania. The former prime minister accuses the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of “abuse, lies and political vendetta”, claiming that his minor daughter, Irina, was intentionally blocked from leaving Dubai on the direct order of Minister Oana Țoiu.
“Thank God, Irina is home, safe! And this is the most important! Until now I have not written anything publicly about this “adventure”. And from today I will not comment in any way. I just wanted to be sure that the TRUTH is known!
When she left home two weeks ago, we were very proud of her for being accepted to one of the best universities in the world. When he came back, we were even more proud that he made it through some moments that can traumatize any teenager. She is now just more mature and aware of the world she lives in.
There were enormously many people who, in those difficult moments for any parent, helped us, tried to help us or had a good thought. Beyond friends and loved ones, there were people we don’t know; and many with whom I had conflicts in public life, but who immediately jumped to help, understanding that when it comes to children we are all PEOPLE. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your help and for showing us HUMANITY once again. I don’t have enough words to express my gratitude. And I know that I too would jump without hesitation to help the child of even my worst enemy – because we must never forget what it means to be HUMAN.
I want us to be happy that Irina is home and that she had so many people by her side”Victor Pontal began his long message on Facebook.
Ponta accuses the MAE of abuse, lies and “political vendetta” and claims that the minor was intentionally excluded from the group on the orders of Minister Oana Țoiu.
Victor Ponta claims that his daughter was officially summoned to the Consulate in Dubai to be evacuated by coach to Oman, but was left behind at the last minute. The former prime minister says he has information about a phone call through which the foreign minister would have blocked the girl’s repatriation.
“For these PEOPLE, but also for those who can be fooled by a Nazi propaganda that affects Romania like a cancer, I want you to find out some very clear data about what happened.
1. Irina is still a minor within the meaning of the law, as she has not yet turned 18. I am convinced that the MAE knows the law and, for this reason, introduced “minority” as the main criterion for repatriation.
2. Irina went to the United Arab Emirates on February 21, together with her mother, to participate in an event to which she had been invited by an American university. We had no way of knowing that in a week a military conflict would start in the area. Parents are not accepted at the university, which is why the institution assumed legal responsibility for the duration of the stay, accommodated her and purchased her return plane ticket, and her mother returned home.
3. Irina is a Romanian citizen and studies at a prestigious high school in Bucharest. She is NOT and has never been a UAE resident.
4. I notified the Romanian Embassy and Consulate in the UAE since February 28 that Irina Ponta is there unaccompanied and that she wants to come home as soon as this possibility exists. I did this first of all because it’s the first thing you think of in crisis situations (to notify the authorities).
Romanian citizens who expressed the desire to return to the country were included on the lists for repatriation by the consulate or embassy staff, regardless of the way they registered (whatsapp, email or the dedicated platform, so not only those who managed to register on the Econsulate platform).
5. I never requested accommodation in the UAE from the Romanian authorities (because Irina stayed at the university until the time of departure for the Romanian Consulate in Dubai).
6. The Romanian Consulate contacted us to confirm if Irina is a minor, if she is unaccompanied and if she is in the UAE for educational purposes.
7. Until Wednesday, March 4, despite all our efforts and the university’s, we were unable to find a flight for Irina to return to Europe. On Wednesday afternoon, we were contacted by a representative of the Romanian Consulate and informed of the existence of an organized flight. Irina was supposed to be the next day, Thursday, at 11 o’clock, at the Dubai office of the consulate, and was going to leave by bus, together with other minor children, to Oman – from where she was going to fly to Romania. I did not intervene in any way for her to be on this priority list. I do not know the composition of the list, nor why the MFA states that Irina should not have been on that list even though she met all the criteria provided by HG 1443/2004 regarding the methodology for the repatriation of children of unaccompanied Romanian children! The MAE has just announced these criteria – after which the spokesperson denies them in an obvious lie! Of course an inquiry must clarify the situation and if necessary I am always ready to answer questions.
8. Under these conditions, the university agreed to hand over responsibility to Irina, her parents, and the Romanian Consulate. The university also transferred Irina to Dubai with its own car.
9. It is obvious that Irina did not decide to leave Abu Dhabi for Dubai and that she would never have come to the consulate if she had not been called.
10. Before Irina got on the bus, along with the other minors, the Romanian consul was called directly by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Oana Țoiu, who told him, imperatively, NOT to let Irina go to Oman, stating that this represents “an image vulnerability”.
I specify that, at that moment, Irina met all the conditions imposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: minor, unaccompanied, studying. There were seats available on the plane at that time as well, as it later turned out. I come back with the clarification that she was called and that I did not pressure her to be in place of other children.
Even if there were no available seats on the plane (which turned out not to be the case), it was the legal obligation of the Romanian authorities to transport her at least to Oman – where the airport was functional and where we could find an airline to fly to Europe.
11. Following the illegal and abusive intervention of Minister Țoiu, Irina was the only child in the group abandoned in Dubai – having neither accommodation nor another confirmed flight.
12. We managed, with the support of the Emirati authorities and the extraordinary people who wanted to help, to find a seat on a flight with which Irina returned to the country. However, I also want to thank the consular staff in Dubai, who acted professionally and according to the legal provisions when they included Irina on the list of minors who could be deported. All the consular staff tried to help us find a flight to Europe – even if they didn’t succeed, but humanity and good intentions matter.
13. The plane that the MAE announced it was organizing for unaccompanied minors from Oman flew to Bucharest with 14 empty seats out of 180 and with only 95 minors (many accompanied), plus adults. It is obvious that the vile phrase “tried to get over the line” is illogical as long as all the seats on the plane were not occupied and as many adults traveled on that flight.
But this aspect also wants to be researched in order to have a clear picture of the composition of the flight.
The lying and denigrating campaign launched against a minor by the USR and its henchmen only tried to absolve Minister Țoiu of responsibility for the illegal and immoral activity carried out. The fact that an entire governing political party has lies about my child in its communication score is a serious alarm signal, being the first time that a family and a child are involved in the political struggle. I understand that this score also insists on the fact that we, the parents, exposed our child, that we should have known that a war was going to start a week after Irina arrived in the UAE and that we wanted to “put her in the front” on a flight in which there were 14 empty seats and in which half of the passengers were adults!
I will present these data to the Romanian state authorities. But we wanted everyone who supported us during this difficult time to be convinced that they defended a just cause. And of course I want those who don’t know the situation to know the truth.
In addition, the way in which Minister Țoiu acted is disgusting and dishonorable for a high-ranking Romanian dignitary who had the legal duty to assist minors, not to abandon them in bad faith in a conflict zone. The repeated and shameful lies of the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, presenting partially true information and data, cast an undeserved stain on the entire Romanian diplomatic and consular staff, who perform their legal and moral duty with consistency and professionalism.
Romania is no longer a state of law when the legal rules are abusively violated for reasons of political vendetta and when a minor is denied his legitimate rights for political reasons. But, also in our case, many Romanians have proven that they can be PEOPLE and can replace, through their action, a state captured by fanatics with a Nazi mentality.
May God take care of all our children and give us as many years as possible to enjoy them”, Victor Ponta reacted.
Ponta’s daughter arrived in Romania
Irina, daughter of Victor Ponta and Daciana Sârbu, arrived in Romania on Friday, March 6.
We remind you that the former Prime Minister Victor Ponta accused the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Oana Țoiu, on Thursday, of taking his daughter off the plane returning from Dubai, through a direct political order. “Mrs. Țoiu took her off the plane that was bringing Romanians”, he declared.
And Daciana Sârbu, Ponta’s ex-wife, accused Oana Ţoiu of having intervened to prevent her daughter, Irina Ponta, from boarding the repatriation flight from the United Arab Emirates and announced that she would file a criminal complaint against the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The explanations of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Oana Țoiu
Oana Țoiu explained that the evacuations are done on the basis of transparent criteria, but she avoided clarifying whether there was an intervention on her part.
Asked by journalists if she intervened at the consulate and demanded that Ponta’s daughter be taken off the bus, Foreign Minister Oana Țoiu avoided answering directly, citing only that the established rules are the same for everyone and that they were communicated to all consuls.
