Summary
Far-right populist Calin Georgescu led Romania’s presidential election with 22% of the vote, narrowly ahead of leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu (21%), setting up a runoff on December 8.
Georgescu’s unexpected rise, driven by anti-establishment sentiment, has disrupted the political landscape.
His vague populist platform includes boosting local production and criticizing NATO. Analysts suggest his surge reflects voter dissatisfaction, with some suspecting potential Russian influence.
The election, marked by moderate turnout (52.4%), occurs amid economic challenges, high inflation, and tensions from Romania’s proximity to Ukraine’s war zone.
And again: what impact does it have in reality?
How informed do you feel about the re-election here in Germany? How’s your opinion on the current situation in Sweden? Could you name the head of state of, say, Belgium?
You’re imposing a completely unrealistic expectation on people. Yes, a bit more interest in Eastern Europe would be nice, but it remains a fact that most of it doesn’t matter to us all that much.
Well I, for one, am terrified about the collapse of the German coalition, recent regional results an the upcoming outlook. Less up to date on Sweden, beyond the fact that they’ve been yet another struggling center right regime and the abuse of their crises, and in particular their crime stats, as a far-right propaganda strategy. Of Belgium off the top of my head I can tell you their struggles to form stable governments are legendary (and that this is despite better than average economic performance across the inflation crisis) and that process is very much ongoing.
Now, I don’t blame anybody, myself included, for not having a full understanding of the many vectors of EU politics across the Union. That’s an impossible task. I do, however, find it horrifying to actively dismiss the relevance of far-right, pro-Russian advances in any Union member as unimportant to one’s own interests. Doubly so if the person in question can name more than two US Senators or members of the House.
I don’t care that you don’t know off the top of your head, I care that you don’t want to know and think it’s irrelevant. Because it does have a real impact. It impacts Union security, it impacts the power balance in the European Council and, if turned into a trend, will eventually impact the power balance in Parliament.
And again, those matter to you because they literally write laws directly applicable to you. If that doesn’t trigger alarm bells for you, then yes, I’m gonna say you’re not paying enough attention. You don’t need to learn the intricacies of post-communist political alignments, or how typical left-right alignments don’t work the same way in that context or the names of everybody involved… but at least I’d expect the news to make your ears perk up and read a report, especially if you’re busy doomscrolling individual Trump cabinet appointments at the time.