The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs faced an unprecedented rise in consular crises last year, with over 13,000 Romanian arrested, 400 involved in labour conflicts or human trafficking and almost 600 involved in car accidents.
There are 13,000 Romanians arrested abroad, out of which 10,220 arrested in EU member states. The main crimes that placed our fellow countrymen behind bars last years were theft, drug trafficking, prostitution, banking frauds and domestic violence
The main arrests involving Romanian citizens were taking place in Italy, followed by Germany, Spain, Austria and Great Britain.
The number of deceased Romanian citizens abroad was 1,339 last year, with 40 percent of them being repatriated.
Yet, MFA mentions that this is not the real figure of Romanian deaths abroad, as there are many cases when they are interred or incinerated abroad without their families registering their death certificates at the Romanian diplomatic missions or consular offices. According data provided by the Romanian Interior Ministry, the annual average deaths are in fact about 2,000-2,500.
Most of the deaths occurred in Italy (442), Germany (295), Spain (155) and France (128).