Nationalism on the Rise in Romania

The latest opinion poll in Romania shows that nationalism is on the rise. AUR, the main Opposition party, gathers 20% of the voting intention. This is 3% above the latest opinion poll in May this year, which shows a strong tendency to grow even higher.

Not only that, but this weekend occurred two significant events which could make AUR grow exponentially. The first one is the presence of Hungary’s PM Viktor Orban in Romania, where his speech attacked Romania and upset lots of people. Orban mocked the Romanian authorities, telling the Hungarian minority gathered at Baile Tusnad, at the Summer University, that the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs tried to impose on him what to tell and what to avoid during his speech. Among others, he stated, to the delight of the Hungarians present, that he had never said that Transylvania belonged to Romania. This controversial statement fuels Romanian people’s desire to vote for nationalist parties like AUR.

The second event is AUR’s launching of its candidates for the Europarliamentary elections 2024. Among them, there are famous people, but also current MEPs.

The same opinion poll shows that the coalition parties PSD – the Socialists, and PNL – the Liberals, lost people’s trust. The Socialists stayed at 31% voting intention, while the Liberals dropped to 18% from 20% in May.

Here is an explanation: the Liberals had the Prime Minister position within the coalition’s algorithm for a year and a half, and the Socialists have just taken the position. So, the tendency could reverse, with the Socialists dropping in voting intention, while Liberals could slightly grow.

Nationalism on the rise tendency is present in Europe, not only in Romania, and we see the far right growing in France, Germany and Italy.