MOSCOW, May 5. /TASS/. The leader of the nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians, George Simion, who won the first round of the presidential elections in Romania, can hardly be called a convenient politician for the European Union, Leonid Slutsky, head of the State Duma’s committee on international affairs and leader of the LDPR Party, said in an interview with TASS.
"Just like Calin Georgescu, who was removed due to the intervention of European "democracy," he (Simion - TASS) can hardly be called a convenient figure for the European Union. George Simion advocates the rejection of "any military support for any country," including Ukraine. However, he cannot be called an opponent of NATO. He considers strengthening Romania's position in the European Union to be his priority," the lawmaker noted.
According to Slutsky, the mood of Romanians is obvious: they continue to choose their own sovereignty and national interests, without imposition of any guidelines by Brussels.
"In this regard, the fact that the Mayor of Bucharest Nicusor Dan, who is in favor of supporting the war to the last Ukrainian, was behind Simion in the first round by almost half of the votes is indicative," the head of the Duma committee added.
"The European Commission preferred not to comment on these results. However, this is another "wake-up call" for Brussels: in the countries of the Old World, Eurosceptics and the far right are increasingly winning, fewer and fewer Europeans are in favor of the so-called unity, which is rapidly turning into a dictatorship of Brussels bureaucrats," Slutsky concluded.
The first round of the presidential elections was held in Romania on Sunday. The leader of the nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians, George Simion, won the first round, gaining 40.96% of the vote. He is followed by Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan, who acted as an independent candidate and received 20.99% of the vote. Simion and Dan will be the rivals in the second round on May 18.
These are repeat presidential elections in Romania. The planned elections were interrupted at the end of last year by the Constitutional Court of Romania (CC) after nationalist candidate Calin Georgescu received the most votes in the first round on November 24, 2024. This was done under the pretext of illegal financing of Georgescu's campaign, hacker attacks on the digital infrastructure used in the electoral process, as well as alleged, but unproven, Russian interference. Despite the fact that this unprecedented step caused a scandal both in Romania and abroad, the government took note of the CC's decision and scheduled repeat presidential elections.