“A pro-Russian candidate who admires Putin and questions the legitimacy of Ukraine represents a high risk for Romania. His result in the first round of the presidential elections reflects the Russia’s hybrid war against European democracy“warns the vice president of the popular group in the European Parliament, the romanian Siegfried Muresan.
The leaders of the European Union attend in a state of shock a new episode of the rise of the radical and pro-Russian populist rightwhich right now seems unstoppable. Only in recent months, the ultras have won elections in several German states and also in Austria, although in both cases they have not come to power because the cordon sanitaire has been applied to them. A faction whose most visible leader right now is the Viktor Orbánwho visited Vladimir Putin in Moscow in July at the beginning of the Hungarian presidency of the EU and who has direct line to Donald Trump just as he prepares to return to the White House.
The last chapter was the first round of the presidential elections held this Sunday in Romania. Calin Georgescu (62) – a supporter of Vladimir Putin and critic of NATO – has made a splash by winning with 22.94% of the votes. During most of the campaign, the polls systematically placed him in the rear, with a voting intention of less than 10%.
Former member of the ultranationalist AUR party, Georgescu has run this time as an independent candidate and has done a good part of his presidential campaign outside of traditional media. His messages have been concentrated on the Chinese social network TikTok, with viral videos where he displays a dynamic image (riding a horse, swimming, running or doing karate) and presents himself as the candidate against the corruption of the ruling class.
Georgescu has also managed to leave the social democratic candidate and great favorite out of the second round, Marcel Ciolacu, despite having the implicit support of the establishment of the EU and NATO. In the days before the vote, Ciolacu met in Brussels with the president of the European Chamber, Roberta Metsolaor with the secretary general of the Atlantic Alliance, Mark Rutte. Austria also lifted its veto, held for years, on the full integration of Romania and Bulgaria into the Schengen area.
@calingeorgescuoficial It is important to play sports on a daily basis. Vorbim despre importanța sportului în viața noastră. Sportul este o poveste de dragoste care trebuie appreciate, respectat și practit în fiecare zi. Sportul ne învață să nu renunțăm niciodată și să mergem până la capăt, să avem dorința de a câștiga și de a fi campioni. Am trăit bucuria alături de marii noștri campioni din gymnastică, handbal, fotbal, canoeing. România a avut și va avea campioni în viitor, iar noi trebuie să îi chemăm, să îi educăm, să îi formăm și să îi inspirăm pentru a putea deveni campioni. #sport #pasiune #campioni #România #discipline #munca #învingere #calingeorgescu #calingeorgescu2024 #românia #fy ♬ original sunet – calingeorgescu
Ciolacu has announced his resignation as leader of the Socialists due to the poor electoral result, but will remain as prime minister until the parliamentary elections scheduled for December 1. It is the first time since the fall of communism in 1989 that a social democratic candidate does not go to the second round.
In another clear indication of the anti-system atmosphere in which the elections took place, the candidate of the National Liberal Party (affiliated to the European People’s Party and in which Muresan is a member) has also been disqualified, with whom Ciolacu governs in a major agreement. coalition. For his part, the until recently number 2 of NATO, Mircea Geoanawho presented himself as an independent, has barely achieved 6% of the votes.
In Romania, the president has among his powers to appoint the candidate for prime minister and direct the country’s foreign and defense policy. In fact, it is the president and not the prime minister who represents Romania in the European Councils, a role that has been played with aplomb for the last 10 years by the popular Klaus Iohannis, who competed with Rutte to head NATO but in the end had to withdraw his candidacy due to lack of support.
Romania shares a 650-kilometre border with Ukraine and since the outbreak of war has supported Volodymyr Zelensky’s government and facilitated the export of Ukrainian grain from the port of Constanta, on the Black Sea.
The winner of the first round of the presidential elections is the extreme opposite of Iohannis and defends a radical change in policy towards Russia and Ukraine. In a 2022 interview, Georgescu called Vladimir Putin one of the world’s few authentic leaders and expressed his admiration for Viktor Orbán’s negotiating skills. He has also called the anti-missile shield that NATO has in Romania a “shame of diplomacy” and has questioned whether the Alliance will help its members if they are attacked by Russia.
Her rival in the second round on December 8 will be the center-right candidate Elena Lasconi (52 years old), leader of the opposition party Save Romania Union, which came in second position with 19.18% of the votes. A journalist by training, Lasconi has defended positions favorable to the EU and NATO in the campaign and has called for intensifying the fight against corruption. If she prevails over Georgescu, she would be the first female president in Romanian history.
His party is attached to the liberal group Renew. “Dear Elena, your entire Renew Europa family supports you in your fight for a pro-European, liberal and progressive future for all Romanians”, wrote the leader of Renew in the European Parliament, Valérie Hayer, a close ally of Emmanuel Macron.
“The results of the first round of Romania’s presidential elections establish a clear second round: a pro-European centrist against a pro-Russian and anti-European rivalunder investigation for pro-fascist comments. With war on our borders, Romania’s decision in the second round of the presidential elections will determine the way our democracy will evolve,” highlights Siegfried Muresan.
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