Over 3,500 Romanians are blocked in their cars on the Austria-Hungary border, after the Hungarian Government’s resolution to ban the transiting of the country amid coronavirus restrictions had become operational. Budapest has allowed only the transit of cargo trucks.

The car queues are stretching on tens of kilometers. There are not only Romanians in this situation, but also citizens from other countries. Digi24 reported that similar situations are reported also in Slovakia.

“The Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu had a phone talk with his Hungarian counterpart Péter Szijjártó on March 17 to continue efforts of assisting Romanian citizens amid restrictions imposed by several states in the view of managing the COVID-19 crisis. The discussion came following Hungary’s decision to close its borders for the human traffic as of March 17, at midnight, in the absence of any previous notification, which prompted several blockages on the Austria-Hungary border.

Following multiple messages sent by the Romanian citizens who want to return to Romania and who are currently blocked in the Nickelsdorf customs, FM Bogdan Aurescu has warned over the humanitarian situation, as among the Romanians blocked on that border there are old people and families with children (there are overall more than 3,500 people) and has asked the Hungarian authorities to adopt an emergency resolution that can allow the Romanian citizens to resume transit on Hungary’s territory,” reads a Foreign Ministry’s press release.

FM Aurescu has underlined the “extremely sensitive character of this situation”, stressing that information about the closure of the Hungarian borders has not been available in due time in advance. Aurescu has asked for his Hungarian counterpart’s help so that the Hungarian authorities create a humanitarian corridor that shall allow Romanians to transit Hungary and arrive in Romania.

Hungarian FM Péter Szijjártó has confirmed that Hungary will support, as an exception measure, the repatriation of the Romanian citizens as soon as possible, with the necessary measures to be enforced by the Interior Ministries of the two countries, the press release added.