The fate of the foreign citizens who practically remained as prisoners in Lebanon, after the extension of the conflict broken out at Israel's border quickly mobilized authorities in their origin countries. Almost all states in this situation had a quick reaction. They contacted Beirut and Damascus to assure the leaving of Lebanon to their citizens and also to other persons interested to leave the conflict area, via Syria, Cyprus, Turkey or Jordan. Efforts for the evacuation from the risk perimeter have started immediately after the breaking out of the fire exchange between Tzahal (Israeli Army) and Hezbollah guerrillas and results were visible at once. Romanian citizens haven't been quite lucky. Not mentioning the difficulties in communicating with the Romanian representation in Lebanon and lack of kindness of our diplomats, the Romanians in the conflict area also had to deal with the slowness of the authorities in the country. Romanian officials have moved, once again, just like in the case of other crisis situations (such as during the floods), in dance steps. In the proper meaning, since President Traian Basescu, the first who should have been restless about how to extract Romanians from Lebanon, danced all Friday night at some discos in Neptun and Olimp (Romanian seaside resorts), without even accusing back aches. Only after he had woken up, yesterday morning, from the Seaside mirage, he decided he might secure himself some "image"-stuff if he could save some of the Romanian citizens blocked in Lebanon. (L.I.) Basescu decided repatriation President Traian Basescu and representatives of the State institutions established, yesterday at noon, a repatriation plan for the Romanian citizens in Lebanon and their families. The objective of the plan is to bring all Romanian citizens back into the country in full safety, has announced the Presidential Administration. Foreign Affairs Minister, representatives of the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of National Defence, chief of General Staff, officials from SRI (Romanian Intelligence Service), SIE (Romanian Service of External Intelligence), TAROM (Romanian Air Transport), Romavia (Romanian Aviation Company) took part in the reunion at the Cotroceni Palace. The situation created on account of the conflict escalation in Lebanon, as well as its repercussions upon Romanian citizens in the conflict area were the main topics analyzed during the meeting. A new meeting was to take place yesterday too, to analyze the latest developments in Lebanon and the potentially additional measures to take during the application of the repatriation for the Romanian citizens and their families. (A.H.) Funds for the repatriation of the Romanian citizens from Lebanon Foreign Affairs minister, Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu, ordered, at the end of last week, the use of the special consular assistance fund for extreme situations, evaluated at 1,500,000 RON, with a view to supporting the repatriation of the Romanian citizens from the region, announces the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) in a press release. Approximately 330 of the almost 1,000 Romanian citizens in Lebanon applied, yesterday, for evacuation, the Romanian Embassy in Beirut making efforts to rent vehicles for transporting them outside the Lebanese borders. Following the developments in the region, teams of permanence have been set up within the Romanian diplomatic missions in Beirut and Damascus, and they give assistance to the Romanian citizens who wish to leave the Lebanese territory. The applications of the Romanian citizens are received on the following phone numbers: Romanian Embassy in Beirut: 0096.159.24.848 / 849, Romanian Embassy in Damascus: 00963.11.33.27.572. In parallel, MoFA had bilateral contacts with the Syrian authorities with a view to facilitating the getting of a transit visa by the Romanian citizens. According to Mediafax, there are about 1,000 Romanian citizens in Lebanon, and 125 of them managed to leave the region since Friday. Romanian authorities launched, at the end of last week, an appeal to the Romanian citizens to avoid traveling in Lebanon and in the contiguous area, up to an improvement of the security situation. Cristian Diaconescu, PSD (Social Democratic Party) spokesman, appreciated, yesterday, in a press conference, that "those persons in the MoFA who might build up our foreign policy are hiding" and he labeled as "embarrassing" the labour conscription of the Romanian ambassador in Beirut regarding the repatriation of Romanian citizens in Lebanon. In Diaconescu's opinion, MoFA faces a lack of expertise regarding the handling of crisis situations, although there has been a conflictual situation in this region for several years. (V.D.; A.H.; A.M.L.)