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November 26, 2024 - 7:00am
In a result that has caused alarm throughout Europe, “hard-Right” unaffiliated candidate Călin Georgescu has emerged victorious in the first round of the Romanian presidential election.
Winning 23% of the vote, Georgescu beat both Elena Lasconi of the centre-right liberal Save Romania Union and current Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu of the Social Democratic Party, who polled 19% each. With no candidate winning an absolute majority, Georgescu — formerly linked to the nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians (abbreviated to AUR, which is also active in neighbouring Moldova) — will compete in the run-off scheduled for 8 December against Lasconi. Ciolacu, meanwhile, resigned yesterday as party leader.
As well as provoking outrage in the conventional Romanian political classes, Georgescu’s unexpected victory in the first round of the ninth presidential election held in post-revolution Romania will also concern the European security establishment. The Kremlin-friendly candidate has previously praised Russia’s President Vladimir Putin as “a man who loves his country”, and claimed that Romania’s future lies with “Russian wisdom”. This means that the country’s pro-Ukraine stance would be in doubt if Georgescu is elected president. Indeed, it would create a Kremlin-leaning axis on Ukraine’s border, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico.
Georgescu has also condemned as a “shame of diplomacy” Nato’s installation of a ballistic missile defence shield in the Romanian commune of Deveselu. This is significant, as the president of Romania is commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces and presides over the Supreme Council of National Defence. Georgescu’s foreign policy views were ultimately responsible for his departure from AUR, with senior members saying that he was damaging the party’s public image. AUR’s presidential candidate, George Simion, dubbed by some as the “Romanian Trump”, finished fourth with 13% of the vote.
Presidential powers in Romania are relatively limited in domestic affairs when compared to matters of national defence and foreign policy. But Georgescu has won popularity at home by focusing on Romania’s ongoing cost-of-living crisis, calling for a stronger emphasis on reducing the country’s dependence on imports by ramping up the local production of energy and supporting agricultural communities. Indeed, Georgescu has a special interest in such matters, as a graduate of the Nicolae Bălcescu Institute of Agronomy and holder of a doctorate in soil sciences. He also previously served as the executive director of the United Nations Global Sustainable Index Institute in Geneva, Switzerland and Vaduz, Liechtenstein.
Georgescu’s political rise challenges the caricaturing of Right-wing populist politics as “anti-expert” by the Left-liberal intelligentsia. He has shown that the professorial worldly type — in his case, a senior expert in sustainable development who has worked for the UN — can find electoral success as an anti-establishment candidate of the Right. Thanks to policies centred on national self-sufficiency and effective campaigning via platforms such as TikTok (where he has shown both his love for attending church and competitive edge in judo), Georgescu has blended his social traditionalism with an embrace of modern technology to impressive effect. He has rejected cultural liberalism and circumvented “legacy media” in the process.
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SubscribeIt is an interesting trend watching experts, former collaborators with global agencies like WHO etc become part of antiglobalist political movements. Was just reading about Dr Makary, Trumps new head if FDA. A ship slowly changing course.
Has it occurred to anyone that this guy’s career suggests he’s not just a ‘populist’; a rotten term for writing off ideas with which you disagree or are unfamiliar.
It is good to hear about a politician who can actually do practical things – rather than just speak about theories.
It seems that there has been an anti-EU reaction in Europe. Now Russia is being seen as a state where the people are proud of their origins, unlike the decadent West which wants to be ashamed of the past. How long before this split turns into more and more disturbances in Western Europe?
I listened yesterday to a TV debate. The one side said that he felt proud of the UK as it was, the other wanted to be proud of the UK as it will be after we have obliterated our history.
This discussion is everywhere and Trump will make an important difference to some countries. In the UK at the moment, the government clearly wants to ignore Trump and rejoin the EU – because it feels safe and cuddly, I suppose.
Do you recall how Lawrence Fox lost his career s an actor because he didn’t think that Blighty was a racist hellhole?
This is a marvellous example of the madness that we have endured these years?
It won’t be solved while we have a government engaging in student politics
There’s nothing recommending this guy – he’s, in no way, a professional that decided to go into politics; on the contrary, he’s a man of the system (a shady part of it, at that). He’s not a man that knows his trade but a mere chameleon that follows his own interest.
Maybe you, Americans, Brits, should have an honest discussion about social media and its deleterious effects it has on society; we didn’t and look what that got us into.
Would have liked to know more about Georgescu’s beliefs, and where he disagreed with the other parties. The DT commented that he has mystical beliefs. What did they mean? What are his economics? Does he feel that the Romanian 3conomy would do bette4 outside the EU, perhaps because of his agricultural background? Romania is a big recipient of EU funds. Is he pro them or against or simply not very interested? Is he a Romanian irredentist?
Romanian citizen here: this fine fella, Călin Georgescu is a loonie, a guy that firmly believes that Pepsi is ridden with ‘nanochips’ (the silicone type, not the ones that go well with fish), that women don’t have what it takes to be politicians/leaders; he also bragged about meeting another sentient species from another planet.
Also, he dodged any sensible questions that the MSM asked, questions about policy, economics and statehood. He’s a man of the system, not an outsider, by any means: he has strong ties with the former Securitate (Romanian equivalent of the KGB/STASI), has had many high ranking positions in past governments; the guy switched his positions/stances on a dime (being pro-EU, pro-NATO in the past), which shows that he has no strong beliefs/convictions of his own.
On top of all that, Călin Georgescu is on record with 0 (zero!) expenses for the campaign, although he basically flooded TikTok with clips (that went viral) – that alone should tell you how shady the guy is.