Orban orders merciless investigation of situation at Cluj-Napoca Airport

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban has asked the transport minister and the interior minister to conduct a "merciless" investigation and "penalise all those responsible for the disaster", referencing the situation at the Cluj-Napoca Airport, where on Thursday about 1,500 people gathered in the airport parking lot waiting for flights to Western European countries where they are to work seasonally.

"Perhaps you will close the Cluj Airport, Minister [Lucian Bode], after seeing it today on TV. So, it is inadmissible: the director is arguing with the County Council (...), but I think we have to take all possible measures, the Ministry of Internal Affairs should immediately start an investigation. It is inadmissible what happened there, we must use all the levers we have to hold the airport manager accountable. He did not even inform the County Emergency Management Committee or the prefect regarding those flights. He did not take any measures of physical distancing, of the provision of protective gear," Orban told a government meeting on Thursday.

The prime minister added that he personally discussed with the prefect of Cluj County to initiate all the procedures for the manager of the Avram Iancu Airport to be brought to account.

"What interests me is, if there are still such flights, they must be notified in advance; the local authorities, the prefects where there are airports that are subordinated to the local administration must be informed in advance, and the airport management and the companies that operate the transport of Romanians who go abroad for seasonal must be made to follow all the orders in the military ordinances in force," said Orban.