France has been trying to subvert democracy in Romania, Euroskeptic presidential candidate George Simion has said ahead of Sunday’s runoff vote.
Simion, a critic of the EU who has been banned from entering Ukraine, won the first round of the presidential election rerun on May 4 with more than 40% of the vote.
The rerun was held after Romania’s Constitutional Court annulled the results of a vote held in November, in which independent right-wing candidate Calin Georgescu came first with 23%.
The authorities cited “irregularities” in his campaign, as well as intelligence reports alleging Russian interference in the election – claims Moscow has strongly denied. Simion, the leader of the right-wing Alliance for the Union of Romanians, has backed Georgescu and said he could appoint him prime minister if elected.
In an interview published on Friday, entrepreneur Mario Nawfal asked Simion if he had received “indirect or direct threats” from abroad. Simion alleged that Paris was working behind the scenes to pressure Romania’s top court, media regulator, and businesses.
“They are putting a lot of money and pressure – through their ambassador here, and through foreign institutions – in order to rob the Romanian people of their vote,” he said.
Simion drew a parallel with the recent decision by a French court to bar veteran conservative politician Marine Le Pen from the 2027 presidential election due to an embezzlement conviction.
“I want to address the free French people against this authoritarian [President] Emmanuel Macron, who doesn’t have the support of the French people, who banned Marine Le Pen, who is supporting the idea of imposing a dictatorship [in Romania] and canceling the will of the people,” Simion said.
He denounced the invalidation of the 2024 election results in Romania as a “coup d’état,” and claimed there were similar “evil plans” being made against him.
“The Romanian people were humiliated with the annulment of the election,” Simion said, vowing to resist foreign pressure. “We don’t have masters. The age of empires is over. We are free, sovereign nations. And these imperialistic reflexes Emmanuel Macron and others have will only backfire.”
The French ambassador to Bucharest, Nicolas Warnery, claimed that Romania experienced a “hybrid attack” in 2024. “We understand your decision to completely restart the presidential election from scratch,” he told Digi24 earlier this month.
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