"There is no request for anti-Russian alarmism in Romania"
According to the results of the voting held in Romania on December 1, seven parties managed to pass the electoral threshold and get into the parliament of the country. After processing 100% of ballots, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) took the lead with 22.3% of the vote. Right-wing Euroskeptics from the Alliance for the Unification of Romanians (AUR) got 18.3%, the National Liberal Party (PNL) had 14.28%, the Union for the Salvation of Romania (USR) got 12.26%, the right-wing conservative party Save Romania S.O.S" (S.O.S RO) with 7.76%, the "Democratic Union of Hungarians of Romania" (UDMR) with 6.39%, and finally, the Euroskeptics from the Party of Young People (POT) received 6.38% of the vote. All these parties entered both the country's Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. It is noteworthy that the three parties representing the right-wing camp and criticizing the European Union received a combined total of more than 32% of the vote.
It is worth recalling that on November 24, the first round of presidential elections was also held in Romania. Independent candidate Calin Georgescu, who has repeatedly criticized the EU and NATO, became the leader of the vote. The representative of the party "Union for the Salvation of Romania" Elena Lasconi has 19.17% of votes. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu was in third place with 19.15%. Given the small difference in the number of votes received by the last two candidates, the CEC decided to conduct a recount. The country's Constitutional Court must either approve the results of the first round or annul them - then the first round can be held again on December 15. "Izvestia" talked to experts about why the success of right-wing Euroskeptics has been noted in Romania for the second time in a row and whether it can be consolidated.
"The growing popularity of Euroskeptics in Romania may be linked to the conflict in Ukraine"
The trend of the growing number of Euroskeptics in Romania will neither strengthen nor expand, it has reached its limits in terms of size, believes Tatiana Bitkova, a leading researcher at the Europe and America Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences' INION Institute of Science and Technology:
"To be honest, I didn't expect the Alliance for the Unification of Romanians to get so much. I thought it would be somewhere around 14%, just like during the elections to the European Parliament.
Romanian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu
In general, Romania is known for having always had a very strong traditionalist and nationalist trend in the post-Soviet era. However, it cannot be said that this trend maintained the same intensity. It went into decline after 2008, unlike what it was in other Western and Eastern European countries, but by 2019 it had intensified again. This is thought to be due to the influence of the Western European states, where right-wing parties were growing in strength at the time. After all, all these parties are constantly communicating with each other in the European Parliament. The growing popularity of Euroskeptics in Romania may also be related to the conflict in Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees settling in the country. Even if Romanians don't realize how the reception of migrants affects them directly, they guess that state budget and EU money are spent on Ukrainians.
As for Calin Georgescu, he will definitely not win, even if the second round is held on December 8. He is a very controversial figure. His statements about NATO are not logically organized. One day he said that NATO will not defend its members in Europe, the next day he said that he did not say anything like that. Therefore, he has no chance of winning."
"The scaremongering about Russia that works in the Baltics and Poland doesn't work here"
In Romania, the success of the right-wing Euroskeptics has been noted for the second time in a row: three parties of this kind gained a combined 32% of the vote, while the most anti-Russian-minded liberals - half as much, if you add up the votes of all parties of this kind, pointed out Vadim Trukhachev, associate professor at the Russian State University for the Humanities:
"Romanians have shown dissatisfaction not only with the country's authorities, but also with EU policies. Residents of one of the poorest countries of the European Union do not want to arm Ukraine, where Romanians are oppressed. Romania is not a Russophile country, but it is not Russophobic either. The scaremongering about Russia that works in the Baltics and Poland does not work here.
AFU soldier
I should also note that the right-wing parties drew attention to the danger of accepting migrants from the Middle East under the EU quota. They were the only ones to talk about the grave Roma problem. In general, we can say that the party of the primacy of foreign policy over domestic policy has been defeated in yet another European country. The solution of urgent problems for Romanians turned out to be more important than the ideological struggle with Russia."
"The Romanian population cares about the internal situation"
The success of Euroskeptics in Romania shows that the domestic agenda for the country's population turned out to be more important than the pan-European agenda, says Oleg Bondarenko, director of the Progressive Politics Foundation and editor-in-chief of the Balkanist.ru portal:
"Let's see who will win in the second round of the presidential election. The very fact that Calin Georgescu made it to the second round shows that Romanians are tired of the topic of Ukraine. They tried to make Romania another anti-Russian avatar, but there is no request for this from the country's population. Globally, there is no Russophobia in the nature of the Romanian people.
For the most part, Romanians do not view Russia as an enemy. Therefore, all those who speculate on the topic of aid to Ukraine and call for war with Moscow have lost. The Romanian population is concerned about the internal situation and, first of all, about the economy. Of course, Romanians are concerned about what is happening in connection with the NWO, since they have a NATO base in their country and they see what is happening, for example, in Odessa. But again, there is no request for anti-Russian alarmism in Romania."
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
