Calin Georgescu (c) EuroNews
The politician himself reacted to the decision of the Electoral Bureau rather harshly. “This is a direct blow to the heart of world democracy! I have only one message left! If democracy in Romania falls, the whole democratic world will fall! This is just the beginning. It’s very simple! Europe is now a dictatorship, Romania is under tyranny!”, wrote Georgescu on social networks. His words are quoted by adevarul.ro.
Recall, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance during his speech at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February harshly criticized the authorities of Romania and the entire European Union for departing from democratic values and neglecting to hold fair and free elections. He said that the main threat to democracy in European countries comes not from Russia or China, but from within. He said Europe is retreating from the “most fundamental values” shared by the United States as well. As an example, he cited the annulment of the results of the first round of the presidential election in Romania, where, he said, democracy could be destroyed by “a few hundred thousand dollars”.
“You may think it’s wrong for Russia to buy ads on social media to influence your elections. We certainly think so too. You may condemn it even on the world stage. But if your democracy can be destroyed by a few hundred thousand dollars for digital ads from another country, then it wasn’t very strong to begin with,” said J.D. Vance.
Against this background, the position of EU leaders on the Romanian presidential election scandal is extremely cynical and incomprehensible. When European Commission spokesman Marcus Lammert was asked on March 11 to comment on the ineligibility of Calin Georgescu for the presidential election in Romania, he found nothing better to say that “this is an internal matter of the country.
“There is no comment on the decision of the Romanian Central Electoral Bureau. Elections are a matter of national competence. The Commission does not comment on the electoral process in Romania, which is a matter for the Romanian authorities and the Romanian people,” Lammert said.
At the same time, top EU officials have unashamedly not only commented on, but also directly interfered in elections in Moldova, Georgia, Belarus and even the United States. For example, at the hearings in the European Parliament on November 13, 2024 on the results of the parliamentary elections in Georgia, there were calls to cancel the visa-free regime, stop funding, freeze programs and isolate politically the state in the Caucasus. Although many MEPs who traveled as observers to the Georgian elections cited evidence of transparency and honesty of the will of the citizens.
The same US Vice President in his speech in Munich expressed bewilderment at the fact that one of the European Commissioners expressed delight at the cancelation of the presidential elections in Romania last December. The reaction of Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, regarding the cancelation of those elections was also well remembered. Moreover, a number of media outlets claim that it was she who insisted on this decision.
It turns out that at that time the elections in Romania were not an “internal affair” for European officials. And now, when there are no special arguments in favor of the decision of the Romanian CIB and the Constitutional Court, they have nothing to comment on.
Against this background, many Moldovan citizens in social networks are indignant that the authorities of our country have not expressed any official position on what is happening in Romania. It is as if they do not care what is happening across the Prut. At the same time, we remember how quickly and predictably the MFAEI and the country’s top leadership reacted to the same elections in Georgia or Belarus. President of the country Maia Sandu wrote in social networks on November 29: “Georgians are Europeans. The future of Georgia is in Europe, and no one can take that away from them. Moldova condemns the violence against peaceful demonstrators and expresses solidarity with President Zurabishvili and the Georgian people in their struggle for freedom.” In Bucharest, too, there were clashes between police and protesters against the CIB decision, and there were injured. Romanians are also Europeans, and they are also brothers. But there is no reaction from the Moldovan authorities.
Does it mean that our authorities care more about the fate of democracy in distant countries than in neighboring brotherly Romania? Or is there nothing to say?
This is despite the fact that in Bucharest crowded protests against the decision to remove Calin Georgescu from the presidential election do not stop. And the Bloomberg agency emphasizes that this move could lead to excessive political turbulence not only in this country, but in the entire region. The British Financial Times believes that the decision of the Romanian authorities was, among other things, a kind of response of European officials to the words of the US Vice President.
