site.btaRussia Has Been Fuelling Anti-European Discourse in Romania, Bulgaria for Years, Romanian MEP Muresan Says

For years, the Russian Federation has been fuelling the anti-European discourse in Romania and Bulgaria, Romanian MEP Siegfried Muresan said in a BTA interview. According to Muresan, the independent presidential candidate Calin Georgescu, who has taken a lead in the first round of Romania's presidential election, is using tools of manipulation developed by the Russian Federation. Kremlin is trying to destabilize Romania the same way it did with Moldova and Georgia, Muresan believes.

Muresan is Vice-Chair of the European People's Party (EPP), Vice-Chair of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, and member of the National Liberal Party in Romania. In early September 2024, he was appointed as European Parliament's lead negotiator on EU’s next long-term budget.

In Muresan’s words, Romanians do not want a pro-Russian president. According to the Romanian MEP, Calin Georgescu will not become president, but his success in the first round could be repeated in other countries.

In recent months, the Russian Federation has made attempts to influence the elections in Moldova by supporting a pro-Russian candidate through illegal means. Fortunately, it has not succeeded. Russia has also influenced the elections in Georgia and destabilized the situation in this country. Now it is trying the same in Romania. The success of Georgescu's campaign has surprised Romania, but the messages he is sending lack originality, they are the same messages that have been seen in other countries. These are the same instruments of manipulation developed by the Russian Federation. Tools based on fear, mistrust and backed up by false information, Muresan explained.

In his words, the presidential run-off in Romania on December 8 will be a choice between the European way of life, based on freedoms, on democratic values, and the way of life in the Russian Federation, based on fear, mistrust and instability.

Muresan was adamant that Romania was not pro-Russian but pro-European. He believes that many who voted for Georgescu because of his fake patriotic messages do not know everything about him. According to the MEP, he and his colleagues have a duty to present Georgescu to Romanians with all his characteristics - a pro-Russian candidate, a declared Vladimir Putin sympathiser, who is also being investigated by the authorities for fascist speeches that breach Romanian law.