Romania: Georgescu under investigation
The dispute over the annulled presidential election continues in Romania. Călin Georgescu, the right-wing populist who came first in the cancelled first round, has been detained and questioned. Criminal proceedings launched against him include charges of election campaign irregularities, plans to attack the constitutional order and links to the Wagner Russian mercenary group.
A dangerous combination
The Times draws comparisons to shed light on the Georgescu phenomenon:
“If artificial intelligence were charged with combining President Putin's macho nationalism, American conspiracy theories and Robert F Kennedy Jr's bizarre health tips, it might come up with something like Călin Georgescu. When he has not been appearing in videos riding horses or slinging judo opponents over his shoulder, Putin-style, the presidential candidate has found time to write a foreword for the Romanian edition of a book by Kennedy, which criticises Covid vaccines.”
Why not sooner?
The Romanian service of Deutsche Welle is surprised that the allegations are only now being investigated:
“A string of circumstantial evidence suggests that the Romanian law enforcement authorities knew all about the extremist presidential candidate's links to Horațiu Potra's mercenaries. ... Georgescu's ties to Russia were also known. The Romanian secret services knew about everything, including the current charge under investigation by the public prosecutors: that of planning to overturn the constitutional order. In other words, Călin Georgescu is accused of planning a coup d'état. Why the domestic secret services didn't bring this up before the first round of voting was cancelled remains a mystery.”
Romanian state still has antibodies
There is still hope if the immune system of the Romanian state really works, republica.ro comments:
“Over the last few days the Romanian state seems to have woken up. There are signs that it is fighting back. That it has antibodies. And that it is making its decisions based on the law rather than the reactions of Călin Georgescu's supporters. And if this state, which today seems to be taking steps to protect its citizens, does not allow itself to be intimidated in the days to come, then there is still hope for us. Hope that we can return to normality and be able to breathe fresh life into the rule of law. Something which it urgently needs, because in the past two months it had stopped breathing.”
Musk wants to sow chaos here too
Newssite G4Media.ro finds it worrying that Elon Musk described Georgescu's brief detention as "messed up", on X:
“With three posts within the space of a few hours, Elon Musk has made his intention very clear: he wants to stir up the public in Romania, demonise the investigation and cast Călin Georgescu as a victim. He did the same thing in Germany with the far-right AfD, and it worked to some extent. ... There is a great danger that the street protests could escalate and Călin Georgescu could become a martyr. The coming hours and days will be decisive for the Romanian state.”