Thousands join a pro-EU rally in Romania’s capital as pivotal
presidential runoff looms
[May 10, 2025]
By STEPHEN McGRATH
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Thousands of people gathered in Romania's
capital on Friday for a pro-European Union march. It came a week before
the final vote of a closely watched presidential election that pits a
hard-right nationalist front-runner against the capital’s pro-EU mayor.
Marchers converged in Bucharest in front of the government building,
where many waved the blue and yellow flags of Europe. Many chanted
slogans such as “We are in Europe” and “Bucharest is not Budapest,”
referring to Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a member but also a
longtime critic of the EU.
A communist country until 1989, Romania joined the EU in 2007. But last
year it was plunged into its worst political crisis in decades when a
top court voided the previous election. The far-right outsider Calin
Georgescu topped the first round following allegations of electoral
violations and Russian interference, which Moscow has denied.
The rally was held nearly a week after the first round of a presidential
election redo that saw hard-right nationalist George Simion, 38, emerge
as the front-runner. In second place was 55-year-old incumbent Bucharest
Mayor Nicusor Dan.
“We need to develop … we want to be like the best countries, and we
don’t have the possibilities on our own,” said Stefan Gheorghe, a
23-year-old lawyer. “You need the European Union to help us out. It is
very important to us to stay together … and to benefit from each other.”
A median of polls ahead of the runoff suggests Simion holds a lead in
the vote, which will be held between the two staunchly antiestablishment
candidates on May 18. Observers have warned that the outcome could
reshape the EU and NATO member country’s geopolitical direction.
After reaching second place on Sunday night, Dan called the final vote a
choice “between a pro-Western direction for Romania and an anti-Western
one.”
Simion’s critics have long accused him of being Russia-friendly and warn
that his presidency would undermine both the EU and NATO as Moscow’s war
drags on in Ukraine. But in an interview with The Associated Press this
week, Simion rejected the accusations and said, “It’s not for the good
of the Romanian people to be close to Russia."
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A man with Romanian and European Union flags draped over his
shoulders waves in front of a large EU flag, during a pro-EU rally
ahead of the second round of the presidential election redo in
Bucharest, Romania, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
“We want to be a member of the European Union. Some fake news were
saying that we want to exit the European project,” said Simion, who
leads Romania's second-largest party, the Alliance for the Unity of
Romanians. “We don’t want to leave. We are here to stay. We invested
a lot.”
Simion, who came fourth in last year’s race and later backed
Georgescu, said in an earlier interview with the AP that he wants to
see "more power" go to the bloc’s 27 individual members, “not toward
the European institutions.”
Similar rallies were held in several cities across Romania on Friday
to mark Europe Day, a date that proclaims to celebrate peace and
unity in Europe.
Although Simion and Dan are ideological opposites, they both made
their political careers railing against Romania’s old political
class, which has fallen out of favor as strong antiestablishment
sentiment among voters grips the country.
For Diana Draghici, 38, the upcoming runoff will be a pivotal moment
for Romania’s future and a choice between forging stronger EU ties
or potentially shifting East.
“I think it’s important that the young people who were undecided and
didn’t vote so far ... to have a wake-up call and choose who they
want to have represented,” she said. “It could decide two extremely
different scenarios for Romania’s future.”
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