The face of Romania’s far-right political forces, George Simion, lost the presidential race last year, and now, as the centrist government coalition collapses, he sees another path to power, reports Politico.
Romania’s major, pro-European parties, trying to find a way out of the crisis, are also trying to keep the ultranationalist and eurosceptic Simion at bay. However, the politician, who is close to the American MAGA movement, has come to the fore in voter polls and insists that it is time to give his party a chance to govern the European Union’s sixth most populous country, which is also planning to build NATO’s largest air base on the Black Sea.
Under Simion, Romania could become an unpredictable partner for Brussels. He is unwilling to submit to the European Commission’s conditions on public spending, would refuse to provide funding to Ukraine and would oppose a common EU migration policy. Simion told Politico: “My hope is that we have a change in power … democracy is about alternating in power, so they have to do the democratic thing and let us govern … listen to the vote of the people.”
Romania’s current crisis has been caused by the need to introduce harsh austerity measures to reduce the budget deficit. The split within the coalition began when the center-left Social Democratic Party (PSD) decided not to support the deep spending cuts proposed by the center-right National Liberal Party (PNL) of Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan.
Simion has called the current coalition an unnatural alliance of four ruling parties.
He said he was ready to talk to anyone to form a government.
The far-right politician has closely aligned himself with US President Donald Trump and has visited Washington several times, including for Trump’s inauguration in January 2025. Simion sees himself as a key figure in Europe’s growing far-right movement, and regularly hosts events called “Make Europe Great Again.” He also maintains close ties with other right-wing leaders, such as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and French politician Marine Le Pen.
Simion’s nationalist AUR is currently leading the polls. A Poll of Polls poll by Politico has AUR with 35% support, significantly ahead of the Socialists, who are in second place with 20%.
The worsening situation in Romania’s government threatens the country’s ability to approve key defense contracts by the deadline in May to receive EU SAFE loans. Also at stake is access to 10 billion euros from the EU recovery funds, which are available until the end of August.
Simion has indicated that he is open to coalition talks,
but is quite pessimistic that a solution could be found within the current parliament. Pointing to the growing popularity of right-wing parties, the politician said that new elections could be held in the country, and a new majority could be obtained, which would probably follow trends in Europe. However, it is unlikely that snap elections will be held. This would mean that the Bucharest parliament rejects the potential composition of the cabinet twice in a row, which, given the centrists’ concerns about Simion’s coming to power, is unlikely to happen.
Expecting the crisis to be prolonged, Simion said that he is ready to agree with anyone who accepts his conditions. These include reducing the number of parliamentarians and reducing subsidies to political parties. So far, no one agrees with his demands, but Simions noted that the coming weeks of crisis could change that. Even if no one cooperates with Simions, he hopes that elections could be held within the next three to four months.
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