Bucharest, Romania – Thousands of people gathered in the capital of Romania on Friday for a pro -European march. It occurred a week before the final vote of a presidential election observed closely that faces a right-wing nationalist leader against the mayor pro-Eue of the capital.
The protesters converged in Bucharest in front of the government building, where many stirred the blue and yellow flags of Europe. Many slogans sung such as “We are in Europe” and “Bucharest is not Budapest”, referring to Hungary Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, a member, but also critical for a long time of the EU.
A communist country until 1989, Romania joined the EU in 2007. But last year he immersed himself in his worst political crisis in decades when a superior court annulled the previous elections. The extreme right Outsider Calin Georgescu exceeded the first round after the accusations of Electoral violations and Russian interferencethat Moscow has denied.
The rally was held almost a week after First round of a presidential election remakes who saw the nationalist right George Simion38, emerges as the leader. Second was the 55 -year -old headline, Mayor Bucharest, Nicusor Dan.
“We need to develop … we want to be like the best countries, and we don’t have the possibilities on our own,” said Stefan Gheorghe, a 23 -year -old lawyer. “It needs the European Union to help us. It is very important for us to stay together … and benefit from each other.”
A median surveys ahead of runoff suggests that Simion has an advantage in the vote, which will take place between the two most antistimal establishment candidates on May 18. Observers have warned that the result could remodel the geopolitical direction of the EU and NATO member country.
After reaching second place on Sunday night, Dan called for the final vote an option “between a western direction for Romania and an anti-western.”
Simion critics have long accused him of being friendly with Russia and warning that his presidency would undermine both EU and NATO as Moscow’s war crawls into Ukraine. But in a Interview with Associated Press this weekSimion rejected the accusations and said: “It is not for the good of the Romanian people to be close to Russia.”
“We want to be a member of the European Union. Some false news said we want to leave the European project,” said Simion, who leads the second largest game in Romania, the Alliance for the Unit of Romanians. “We don’t want to leave. We are here to stay. We invest a lot.”
Simion, who arrived in the race last year and then supported Georgescu, said in a previous interview with the AP that wants to see that “more power” goes to the 27 individual members of the block, “not to European institutions.”
Similar demonstrations were held in several cities in Romania on Friday to mark Europe, a date that proclaims to celebrate peace and unity in Europe.
Although Simion and Dan are ideological opposites, both made their political careers that criticized Romania’s old political class, which has fallen out of favor as a strong anti -stating feeling among the voters that grabs the country.
For Diana Draghici, 38, the next runoff will be a crucial time for the future of Romania and an choice between forging EU ties stronger or potentially changing east.
“I think it is important that young people who were undecided and did not vote so far … to have a call for attention and choose who they want to have represented,” he said. “I could decide two extremely different scenarios for the future of Romania.”
