How not to fight populism: a lesson from Romania

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It is very easy to explain politics after the event. In the wake of the Romanian revolution of 1989, against communism, amid the prosperity of newspapers, an extremist scientist appeared in the streets. The name Romania Mary (Greater Romania) quickly inspired a political party with the same provocation and views of the replacement specialist.

Paper and the party were a kick to the thirties of the twentieth century. Year after year, both of them on the sidelines. All the time, Romania moved – albeit appropriate – in the main current. In the early first decade of the twentieth century, it joined the European Union and NATO, a victory after its harsh journey under communism.

However now, horrific, spirit Romania MaryPsorbly with the Trump crust, is the dominant force in the country. George Simon, a politician full of his right -wing morals, is the candidate in the presidential elections in the second round on Sunday. Whatever the result, you must learn many European Union countries that are struggling to confront populism from Romania: it is a written study on how to respond.

If Simon, who is one-time rioter, is winning, it will celebrate the largest Romania revolution since 1989. Investors feel anxious-as well as NATO officials and the European Union who fear that Romania may be about to join Hungary as a Rug. Nothing should be surprised.

Of course, there were familiar and familiar midfields of this popular increase, which led to Simon’s victory by 41 percent of the votes in the first round. It seems clear that Moscow is the mastermind of an electronic campaign to inflate the right’s message. The excitement of electoral troubles through robots is a good way for Kremlin-a wonderful cheap.

Then there are ancient communist networks that were said to have funded the Simon alliance for the Romanian Union (AR) and his traveler colleagues. The former former Bucharest flourished after 1989 in an echo to steal KGB. Their heirs and confrontation will feel the rich selection if Simon runs.

However, unhealthy effects, the real perpetrators of the rise of the oath are the parties to the institution, which has rotted corruptly in power for 35 years. The most prominent new generation of journalists and prosecutors is a scandal after a scandal, especially in the shadow of social democrats. He watches collectiveThe Corruption Exhibition Candidate for the Academy Award for Health Service, and crying.

As it happens, the outgoing coalition government may be the cleanest of Romania at all, but it is too late to calm popular intelligence with the current situation. (He was also hopeless in connecting her message.)

The Romania Foundation has failed to share the fruits of globalization while staying satisfied with the threat from the right. Simon built his brand as anti -faxes during the epidemic, as he took advantage of doubts in the Communist era of the nanny state. Since the AR party entered the front of the front lines in 2020, its nationalism has often been reduced if it is not indulged by the main current.

What foolishness has proven. When the middle institution finally understood the threat, its reaction was brilliantly, and was made in the first round of last year’s elections when the other Călin Georgescu won, noting the Russian intervention. He was later prevented from participating in the restart of the Constitutional Court, based on superficial evidence.

US Vice President JD Vance excelled the two positions in Europe in February when he criticized the European Union to reduce freedom of expression without mentioning the tyranny of Russia. But he was on something when he suggested that responding to Georgsco was excessive. And yes – a surprise, a surprise – the ban appears to have launched the right.

For Maga activists in the United States and beyond, Simion will win another welcoming nail in the coffin of the European Union, although in an attempt to attract moderate, he says it will remain in NATO and the European Union. The Kremlin must be the rooster to find itself as a manpower as Romania’s packages, given that the country has historically hated Russia. As for the remaining breaches of Mary Romania, Against difficulties, their hour came.

Roman liberals and ethnic minorities have suspended their dims on Nikoshor Dan, the mayor of Bucharest, a mathematician with a vibrant record. Even if he wins, the country faces turmoil, if not a defect.

Sir George iacobescu, who left Romania under communism and ended up to the management of one of the largest real estate companies in Europe, Canary Wharf Group, despair from AR supporters, especially many in the vast diaspora in the European Union who voted for its last time. “They are destroying the country to get rid of its corrupt administration,” he says. “It is like burning an entire forest instead of its dead trees.” Indeed, a warning story.

Alex.russell@ft.com