In an interview with the BBC’s Nick Thorpe after winning the first (repeated) round of Romania’s presidential election, George Simion said: “I am young and restless. I am a Romanian patriot [who] all his life… dreamt of being part of the free world, and now we discovered that the free world is not that free anymore.”
The BBC piece noted that Romania has served as a key ally of Ukraine, sending them weapons as well as allowing for the transit of Ukrainian grain through Romanian waters in the Black Sea. Romania is also home to air bases from which NATO flies air police missions and has even trained Ukrainian pilots on F-16s.
“Forget about any more help to Ukraine if Simion becomes president,” George Scutaru, a security expert at the New Strategy Center in Bucharest told the portal.
Not included in the official BBC piece was a question Thorpe asked Simion regarding Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán, which does appear on his own personal blog: “What is your message to the Hungarians of Romania and to Viktor Orban in Budapest?” he asked.
In response, Simion said many of Orbán’s talking points are “not relevant,” but that the countries “should unite forces and fight illegal migration, tackle with demographic problems, tackle with wokeness and other Neo-Marxist ideologies that will do much harm to Romanians and Hungarians.”
Commenting that despite their differences, Hungary and Romania are neighbors, so they must work together, he said: “(Whether) we want it or not, we are living in the same land. We are sharing the same country and neighbouring countries. So we must forge a future together.”
The second round will take place on May 18.
