Thierry Breton, the European Union’s former internal market commissioner, admitted in a French TV interview at the end of last week that the Romanian Constitutional Court (CCR) bowed to EU pressure. It annulled the country’s presidential elections last month, following the first-round victory of the Eurosceptic and anti-NATO, right-wing populist candidate, Călin Georgescu.
As we wrote before, the socialist-packed CCR annulled the election result based on (still unproven) allegations of Russian interference. While the three-party centrist government recently announced that the race would be repeated in May, there’s no ruling yet about whether Gerogescu will be able to enter again.
Meanwhile, all four opposition parties on both sides of the aisle continue to demand the reversal of the “antidemocratic” CCR decision—a sentiment shared by a clear majority (62%) of Romanians—and for the canceled second round to be held between Georgescu and the pro-EU anti-establishment runner-up, Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union party.
Breton—who remains infamous as the EU’s self-styled “digital enforcer”—responsible for the bloc’s infamous online censorship mechanism, the Digital Services Act—boasted about Brussels’ interference in Romania as if it was not only acceptable but even a moral obligation to cancel democratic elections based on the outcome. He then went further to add that Germany can expect the same treatment if the voters dare to elect AfD in next month’s federal elections.
“We have to prevent interferences and make our laws apply,” Breton said, referring to the alleged Russian involvement before admitting actual EU interference. “We did it in Romania, and we will obviously have to do it in Germany, if necessary.”
It’s not the first time Breton has come under heavy criticism for attempting to influence elections. One of the reasons he didn’t get to stay in the second von der Leyen Commission was that he went around the Commission chief’s back last summer and threatened X-owner Elon Musk with “legal repercussions” if he gave a platform to Donald Trump’s campaign.
Breton conveyed similar ‘warnings’ ahead of Musk’s recent interview with AfD leader Alice Weidel as well, then accused Musk of “lying like hell” for suggesting he wanted to prevent the conversation from happening. That’s why the tech CEO called him the “tyrant of Europe” after his latest admission of interference in Romania—and Germany, “if necessary.”
Meanwhile, on Sunday, January 12th, tens of thousands of Romanians took to the streets of Bucharest in a massive demonstration to protest the CCR decision and call for the second round to be held. Estimates about how many participated vary between 50,000 and 100,000. but it was the biggest protest the country saw in recent years. Participants marched in front of the Parliament, the Presidential Palace, and the Palace of the Constitutional Court, chanting “Down with the government,” and “Bring back the second round!”
The three governing parties, however, have not much interest in allowing the canceled run-off vote to proceed, as none of their candidates qualified for the second round. Both candidates who did—Georgescu and Lasconi—represent opposition, anti-establishment parties, even if they come from politically opposite camps. Both of them accuse the socialist-led coalition of forcing a rerun through the compromised Court in order to give themselves another chance at the presidency in May.
