Who is George Simion, Possible President of Romania?

Bucharest, BRATISLAVA. US President Donald Trump He may soon get another ally in Europe. It is a 38-year-old extreme right-wing politician George Simion, who won the first round on Sunday with a big lead Presidential elections in Romania.

It happened half a year after Constitutional Court The first round of the first round of elections for concerns about foreign intervention and March banned his winner, the far right -wing Calin Georgesco again to run again.

Simion was able to reach out to a large part of his voters – he puts himself in the role of a Romanian patriot who is Trump’s fan. Criticizes Maskbut also the European Union, for example for its help Ukraine.

The second place in Sunday’s elections was the 55-year-old Mayor of Bucharest Nicușor Dan, who is an independent and pro-Western candidate. In the third place, the nominee of the government coalition Crin Antonescu finished in the third place.

The second round of elections will be 18 May. The elections will show whether Romania will continue the democratic and European roads, which also include EU and NATOsays Oana Popescu, director of Think-Tank Globalfocus Center based in Bucharest.

The alternative is that « Romania will accept a much more ambiguous foreign policy that would be more accessible to the pressure of Trump’s administration, which largely corresponds to the interests of the Kremlin, » said Popescu analyst. for France24 portal.

Romanian Maga

Simion often wears a legendary red cap with Trump’s motto Maga (Make America Great Again – let’s make America in English again). He said he himself wanted to be the Romanian « MAGA President ».

He calls its far right right -wing party for the unification of the Romanians (Aur). In Trump’s style, he puts in the position of « Christian and pro -family » politics, does not like the support of Ukraine and supported the conspiracy of vaccines or coronavirus.

« Our party is a natural ally of the Republican Party. We are almost quite ideologically identified with the Maga movement, » Simion said a few months ago.

In addition to Trump, he likes the conservative policy of Italian Prime Minister Giorgie Meloni, which several political scientists call the right -wing. Meloni has a good relationship with Trump.

Simion in a pre -election conversation for Politico magazine He called for « melonization » of Europe. « And believe me, there will also be a simionization, » he added.

Averted from Ukraine?

The promising Romanian president often criticizes Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin He described as a « military criminal », his regime as « the greatest threat to Romania, Poland and the Baltic ».

However, it is also openly opposed to the help of Ukraine – whether against the aid of Ukrainian refugees or against Kiev’s military assistance.

Many European officials are therefore afraid that if Simion becomes president, it will end the aid to Ukraine. So far, Romania has donated the Patriot air missile system to Ukraine and trains Ukrainian pilots of fighters. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the export of 30 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain has also enabled its Konstan’s black -genre port.

« If Simion becomes president, forget any further help of Ukraine, » told for the BBC website George Scutar, Romanian security expert from the center of the new strategy in Bucharest.

The President, as the head of the National Security Council, can veto any decision and has a strong impact on the security policy. Scutar, however, expresses « cautious optimism » that the centrist candidate will win in the second round of the elections.

Simion is also a proponent of Romanian nationalism, which supports the return to the border before 1940. However, this would mean that Romania will occupy parts of Moldova and Ukraine. Therefore, it is banned from entering both countries.

EU criticism

For the military support of Ukraine, Simion also criticizes the European Union, which he believes consists of « Brussels Non -elected bureaucrats ».

But he does not want to get out of the EU, but reform. « To want to reform the EU does not mean wanting to leave it. We believe in the European Union that prospects as a nest for its diverse and sovereign nations – not as a rigid system promoting universal policies, » he said on Monday after the election results were published.

However, he said before he was willing to veto the EU voting he does not like. « I would be a liar if I said we would respect the EU law. If a new law appears for which we have not voted, or laws that are not good for Romania, I will try to use all my powers to stop what harms my people, » He told Politico magazine last year.

For the BBC, however, he said that he believed in strong NATO and it is in favor of continuing NATO and US military bases in Romania. It agrees that Member States increase defense spending.

Although the Romanian President has limited powers, as the commander of the armed forces significantly affects military expenditure. It also has supervision over foreign policy.

Parliament, in which the majority of centrist forces have a narrow majority, has control of economic and other domestic policy.

Repeated elections

The Romanian presidential election was originally held last November. They were won by another far -right candidate – Calin Georgescu.

Only two days before the second round, which was to be held in December, the elections were annulled by the Constitutional Court and Georgesco on suspicion that he had prevented the contribution of Russian influence, forbidden to re -run. This was due to more than 85,000 cyber-attacks for electoral computers or over 25,000 fake accounts on the social network Tictik, which supported the candidate, or the fact that the candidate was protected by people with a possible connection to the paralitarian Wagner. Surveys predicted his victory again.

Simion finished fourth last year. After the abolition of Georgesco’s candidacy, however, he was more aware of the public and many of Georgesco’s supporters went to him. He himself supports Georgesca publicly – he even came with him to remove him on Sunday.

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Simion also says that if he becomes president, Georgescu will award an important role in his administration, or appoints him as Prime Minister. As a president, he would have such jurisdiction.

At the end of last year, Georgescu gained attention mainly on the social network of Tictik, but Simion also significantly launched a campaign on the Internet – partly to attract Romanian voters abroad.

He also succeeded – for example, in Italy., ‘ Spain Whether in Germany, where the Romanians do manual work, it has won more than 70 percent of the votes. However, a significant number of voters from abroad, who are in favor of the hard right, also gained his moderate counter -candidate Dan.

He is fighting for Simion for the post of President in two weeks. Dan described the second round as a fight between pro- and anti-Western values. « Our task is to convince the Romanians that Romania needs a pro -Western direction and our campaign will focus on it in the next two weeks, » he said after the announcement of the results.