Brussels once again showed what ‘Democracy in Action’—a slogan plastered all over the European Parliament (EP)—truly means.
On Monday, March 10th, the EP’s mainstream ‘Ursula coalition’ rejected ’a request from conservatives to hold a debate on the Romanian presidential elections, arguing that they cannot let “extremists” and “friends of Russia” question the integrity of the rule of law in Romania.
It only adds to the absurdity that this comes just a day after Romania banned the nationalist frontrunner, Călin Georgescu (AUR/ECR) from re-entering the race in May after his first-round victory prompted the annulment of the initial election last December.
The country has been in turmoil ever since, with hundreds of thousands protesting the “stolen” election and calling for the resignation of the grand coalition led by the establishment PSD (S&D) and PNL (EPP). Sunday’s decision to ban Georgescu only added fuel to the fire, turning the protests into violent clashes with riot police that lasted all night and ended with dozens of arrests.
In the wake of this escalation, the European Conservative and Reformist (ECR) and the Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) groups requested a European Parliamentary debate during this week’s plenary session—and were immediately turned down by the ruling mainstream parties.
“All pro-European groups—EPP, Socialists, Renew, and Greens—voted against this manipulation attempt. The debate will not take place,” declared Siegfried Mureșan, a vice-chair of von der Leyen’s centrist EPP from the Romanian PNL.
Mureșan went even further by labeling the two conservative groups pro-Russian “extremists” for wanting “to create the false impression that the rule of law in Romania is in danger.” He added:
Romania is governed by the rule of law and we don’t need the friends of Russia in the European Parliament to question this.
Calling the AfD-led ESN “extremists” is something they’re used to at this point, but the EPP saying the same about the ECR—a consistently pro-Ukraine group led by Giorgia Meloni’s Italian ruling party—is beyond wild, to put it politely.
Back in December, the socialist-packed Constitutional Court (CCR) annulled the election due to allegations that Russian interference propelled Georgescu to first place, but since then no clear evidence of this has been presented. Still, the Central Electoral Bureau cited the original CCR decision as its primary reason for banning Georgescu from re-entering the coming elections in May.
Meanwhile, Georgescu has continued to rise in the polls and currently stands at 38%, far above any other candidate. The CCR has until 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 11th to respond to his appeal against the Electoral Bureau’s decision. If it’s rejected (which is the most likely outcome), it is expected that AUR leader George Simion, the Vice President of ECR, will take his place as the candidate of the largest opposition party.