Middle East crisis: the EU Commission brings home another 303 European citizens

Brussels – With two more flights departing today (12 March) from Oman and Saudi Arabia for Warsaw (Poland), the European Commission has brought home 303 European citizens stranded in the Middle East following the recent military escalation.
This was announced this afternoon

by Hadja Lahbib, Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, emphasising that the EU Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) is “in full action to enable the Union
step in to help when challenges are too great for any one country to face alone.” 

The two aircraft were organised and paid for by the Brussels executive as part of the rescEU system, an “enhanced” version of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) that allows the Commission to directly provide its own transport and cover 100 per cent of the travel costs. As with what the Romanian government didon Monday, 9 March, on this occasion, it was Poland, the country of origin of 227 passengers on the two flights, that requested the activation of rescEU.

 When the new Middle East crisis broke out, hundreds of thousands of European citizens were stranded in the region (mainly French, German, and Italian) and, as Lahbib pointed out, “thanks to more than 70 EU repatriation flights, more than 8,000 people have already returned home safely.” Further departures are planned in the coming days to meet the requests for assistance received in Brussels from 23 Member States.