He presents himself as a messiah and promises to make Romania a world power: the pro-Russian right-wing extremist Calin Georgescu is taking advantage of the lack of reforms and the country's unresolved serious problems, writes Keno Ferzek.
In the last 35 years, since the end of the Ceausescu dictatorship, Romania has repeatedly experienced state crises. The annulled presidential elections of November 2024 led to the current one, but it is not just another one - never before have the far-right, anti-Western and pro-Russian forces in Romania had stronger support. And never since 1990 has Romanian society been so disillusioned as it is now.
The violent protests that took place in Bucharest last Sunday were an expression of these sentiments. Supporters of far-right parties rampaged through the city center, smashing shops and cafes and clashing with the police. Only a few hundred people took part in the protests, but they nevertheless led to scenes the likes of which the Romanian capital has not seen for a long time.
The reason: The Central Election Commission has excluded pro-Russian right-wing extremist Calin Georgescu from the presidential elections scheduled for next May. The reason: certain of his statements are unconstitutional and undemocratic. Moreover, since the Constitutional Court annulled the election because of him, he cannot renew his candidacy.
"Tyranny reigns in Romania"
At the end of November 2024, Georgescu won the first round of the presidential election, and current sentiments indicate that he would be the most promising candidate in the upcoming elections as well. Last year, the Constitutional Court initially declared the elections valid, then annulled them - based on newly received information about illegal financing of Georgescu's campaign and about Russian interference in his favor. The illegal financing was proven, but not the Russian interference.
The Georgescu case gained international dimensions after, at the Munich Security Conference last month, US Vice President J.D. Vance pointed to it as "proof" of the undemocratic nature of Europe as a whole. In addition, Georgescu enjoys the support of Elon Musk, who described the exclusion of the Romanian right-wing extremist from the elections in the X platform as “absurd”. Georgescu himself called his exclusion from the elections “a direct blow to the heart of world democracy”. And he added: “Europe is already a dictatorship, tyranny reigns in Romania”.
The Romanian public is concerned not only about the Georgescu case, but also about the activities of the special prosecutor's office, which deals with organized crime and terrorism. It announced that it is conducting an investigation against a six-member group, as well as against a 101-year-old general from the reserve, for a planned coup. A warrant was issued a few weeks ago for the arrest of the Romanian “Prigoghin” on the same charge - Horacio Potra, whose whereabouts are unknown.
Who wants to turn Romania into a “Gothia”?
Georgescu, who is a far-right esotericist, leaves no doubt that he wants to eliminate the “system” and the political elite. At the same time, he claims that he is already the president of Romania and that in his person the entire Romanian people have run for the highest state office. He styles himself as a messiah and promises to make Romania a world power. He also says that as president he will advocate the division of the “fictional state” Ukraine between Romania, Russia, Hungary and Poland.
The other “putschists” have even stranger ideas - they want to create a state called "Goetia" in place of Romania, which would be led by a Council of Wise Men in military, informational and energy matters.
The will to reform is not enough
However, this nonsense is not the cause of the current Romanian state crisis - it is due to the lack of will to reform and good, transparent and credible governance of the country - with all the problems that arise from this.
Although Romania has developed intensively macroeconomically in recent decades, many rural regions are hopelessly backward and affected by migration. Corruption, the shadow economy, the self-enrichment of the elites, political influence on justice and the opacity of the administration are still widespread. In terms of infrastructure, Romania has been developing slowly and often chaotically.
Decades-overdue education reforms and the incompetence of many media outlets are also major problems. Right-wing extremists like Georgescu often spread false information and even outright lies, without journalists opposing them or checking the facts.
The authorities' controversial approach
The recently resigned Romanian President Klaus Iohannis promised deep reforms in 2014. However, they were never implemented, and the fight against corruption was weakening. Against this background, as well as due to the lack of political alternatives, the three right-wing extremist parties gained more and more support and in the parliamentary elections last December they took 35 percent of the vote.
Disturbed by this, the Romanian political elite is now under suspicion of wanting to remove the anti-democratic presidential candidate Georgescu by anti-democratic means. And indeed, a number of things in the approach to Georgescu are controversial - he has been under investigation since February 2022 for praising the Legionnaires' movement, but this did not become a reason for him to be excluded from the presidential race in November 2024. The plans of the other “putschists” have been freely available for reading on the Internet for years - without the secret services and the prosecutor's office having interfered.
In relation to the current situation in Romania, the publicist Ene Dogoiu issued the following warning: “We are in a deep crisis, our democracy has suffered a defeat, society is polarized, our institutions are shaken, and the electorate and the political class feel a huge distrust of each other. These are the big problems that Georgescu is only taking advantage of. If they persist, it is only a matter of time before someone else takes advantage of them”.