The rules for entering Greece have not changed, announced Greece’s Embassy in Bucharest. The testing at the border crossing points will be done randomly, as so far, the embassy representatives mentioned.
The clarification came after a previous information regarding the mandatory testing of all Romanians entering Greece by land, which was actually based on a wrong translation of the Romanian Embassy in Athens.
The MFA announced that the local translator has been fired, and officials from the diplomatic mission who validated this information are under disciplinary investigation.
The MFA spokesperson announced on Wednesday evening that Greece imposes new rules for tourists who want to enter the country: all those who enter the country by land will be tested at Covid-19, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated or have passed the disease, and those who have a positive result will be quarantined for 10 days if not vaccinated and 7 if vaccinated.
The Romanian MFA said that the rule applies to all those over the age of 12 who enter Greece by land. The measure does not apply to those who come by plane.
The information also appeared on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Subsequently on Thursday, the Romanian Foreign Ministry admitted the error and cleared things up:
“Following the information announced by the MFA yesterday regarding the change in the conditions for entry into Greece, the MFA states that, due to an unfortunate error in the translation of the Romanian Embassy in Athens of the rules published in the Greek Official Gazette, the mention regarding the testing according to an algorithm established by the Greek authorities at the border crossing, was not included, leading to the misconception that all citizens entering Greece by land will be tested.
In this context, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu ordered the termination of working relations with the local translator who performed the translation, as well as the disciplinary investigation and sanctioning the staff within the diplomatic mission who were responsible to validate this information.”