Central to the current controversy is Mircea Geoană, an independent candidate accused of utilizing a troll farm or collaborating with foreign consultants to sway public opinion and influence the electoral process. Geoană is the former Deputy Secretary General of NATO, and he recently resigned from office and became a candidate for Romania’s Presidency.

The initial claim was brought to light by Elena Lasconi, another candidate in the race, who connected Geoană to Tal Hanan, an Israeli businessman known for orchestrating disinformation campaigns across various countries.

The accusations against Geoană were later prominently raised by Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who claims that a troll farm is operating out of a residential building to bolster Geoană’s campaign. Ciolacu has called for an investigation by the Romanian Permanent Electoral Authority (AEP) to assess the legality of these alleged activities.

Given these severe allegations, Geoană has firmly denied involvement with Hanan or knowledge of his operations. He described the accusations as “unacceptable” and characterized them as part of a broader discrediting campaign to undermine his candidacy. His team has dismissed the claims as misinformation, asserting that they are intended to distract voters from the real issues at stake in the election.

Investigation Initiated

In response to the escalating situation, Toni Greblă, president of the AEP, announced that while no formal request regarding the alleged troll farm had been submitted, he is actively engaging with relevant authorities to investigate these claims further. Greblă emphasized that any findings would be handled within appropriate legal frameworks, underscoring the importance of maintaining electoral integrity.

The allegations surrounding Geoană are not isolated incidents but part of a more significant global trend, where digital manipulation and disinformation tactics are increasingly employed in political campaigns.

As the presidential election approaches, the accusations against Mircea Geoană highlight the contentious nature of Romania’s political environment. The potential use of troll farms and foreign consultants underscores a growing recognition of the challenges posed by digital manipulation in modern elections.

With investigations underway and political tensions rising, voters will be closely watching how these allegations unfold and their impact on the upcoming election.

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Romania had both Euro Parliamentary and Local elections on Sunday, June 9. If the vote for the European Parliament showed a landslide victory for the Socialist-Liberal Alliance (PSD-PNL), the local elections show a drastic victory for the Socialists.

According to the partial results of the Central Electoral Bureau, PSD (Socialists) obtained 27 county councils, PNL (Liberals) obtained 11, and UDMR (Hungarian minority) 4 county councils.

Bucharest Mayorship was won for a new mandate by the independent Nicusor Dan.

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George Simion, the president of the other nationalist party, AUR, and Nicolae Ciucă, the president of the Romanian Liberals, follow in the intention of voting in the presidential elections, according to the latest poll conducted by INSCOP.

Interestingly, in the version in which the Pro Romania leader, former prime minister Victor Ponta, would also run, the percentages would decrease, especially for the PSD candidates, Marcel Ciolacu and AUR, George Simon.

Romanians are interested in voting, especially in a year with four rounds of elections. 9.8% of Romanians said that they would not go to vote, while 64.4% said that they would vote.

If presidential elections were held next Sunday, of the 80.2% of Romanians who have a clear voting option, 24.6% would choose Mircea Geoană (independent candidate), 15.1% would vote for Marcel Ciolacu (PSD), and 14.8% would vote for Diana Şoşoacă (from SOS Romania).

In the ranking follows Nicolae Ciucă (PNL), with 10.8%, Victor Ponta (Pro Romania), with 10.7% and George Simion (AUR), with 10.4%.

The ranking of voting options is completed by Cătălin Drula (from the USR party, the so-called Reformists), with 4.7%, Dacian Cioloş (REPER), with 4.1% and Kelemen Hunor (UDMR – Hungarian minority), with 3%. 1.7% of Romanians would choose another candidate.

Mircea Geoana is the famous loser in the 2009 Presidential Elections in Romania. He was announced as the winner at the exit polls, but until the morning, when votes were counted, he learnt he lost the elections by a solid margin to the right-wing candidate Traian Basescu. Fraud accusations were mentioned then, and Romanians believed that Geoana lost because of the political games and the Western powers’ interest in Romania, not because of the people’s votes. Therefore, there is the opinion that by voting for Geoana, you contribute to some moral repair for what happened in 2009.

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Also, 25% of the respondents say they trust the two party leaders, Mrs. Diana Sosoaca and Mr. George Simion, while the current PM, the leader of the Romanian Socialists, enjoys 27% popularity.

Marcel Ciolacu said, during a political rally of the Socialists, that he is not concerned about the increasing trend promoting Romexit. Still, he would like the TV hosts to ask the political leaders about the alternative after exiting the EU.

We have a unique chance to be in the European Union, and we must say this every time Romania’s place is in the European Union. I don’t care if a political opponent goes on TV and says it’s better to leave Europe. What bothers me is that someone doesn’t immediately ask him: Could you give us your solution if we leave Europe? Where do we go, and how many decades do we go back? Do we look and remove everything that divided us for 30 years from his speech? Good people, we have children, all at home, some of you are young, you will have families and children, what are we building? Everything we hated or want that we are building a real future for us and our children and Romania, first of all, because first of all, we are Romanians, then we are Socialists.

Romania’s PM Marcel Ciolacu on Romexit propaganda

This is a clever political statement. On the one hand, Ciolacu positions the Socialists, once considered the trendsetters of the Romexit, on a pro-European path before the Europarliamentary elections this spring. On the other hand, he tries to make the Romexit supporters doubt if exiting the EU is the right choice for Romania.

As we showed previously, the Romanians’ trust in the European Union collapsed during the pandemic years. The Eurobarometer in 2023 says this about the trust the Romanian people lost in the European institutions.

Namely, almost 10% of trust was lost during the last two years. Only 46% of Romanians see EU membership as positive, compared to 55% in 2020. It’s quite a drop, considering Romania has dropped way below the EU average here, which is 62% now, increasing from 59% in 2020.

So, what is the trend in the country? With the Russian so-called special operation at its Nothern border, with rampant inflation and amid farmers’ protests, unhappy with the country’s leaders’ decisions to favour the Ukrainian grain exporters, Romanians have their thoughts and vision independent of what’s said on TV and political propaganda. So many broken promises over the years have turned the people more and more to nationalism, which seems to be a refugee for all those disappointed with their unfulfilled expectations since the country joined the EU.

But will AUR or SOS, even if they won this year’s elections, lead the country to a Romexit? It looks highly improbable at the moment, and all these statements seem only political methods of attracting those unhappy with the country’s current economic and social development.

When looking at what’s happening in Romania this year, one must consider four rounds of elections. Romanians will vote for the Europarliamentary, Local, General and Presidential elections in a single year, and this is the key to understanding events, statements and outcomes.

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Romania’s President has been missing since December 18, the last day he was publicly seen. Thirty days later, Opposition deputy Adrian Axinia went to a police station in Bucharest and filed a formal complaint for the missing person.

Citizen Klaus Johannis has not shown up at work since December 18, failing to fulfill his legal obligations according to the job description established by the Romanian Constitution.
If health problems prevented him from showing up at work, they must be known to his employers: Romanian citizens. If he is in a situation of suffering, as Christians, we would like to be his support.

Official complaint for missing person for President Klaus Johannis

Also, the other major Opposition party, the so-called Reformists, USR, posted on Facebook a visual asking for any information about the missing President Johannis.

“Missing person! He hasn’t been seen since December 18, 2023. He answers to the name KLAUS IOHANNIS”.

USR post on Facebook on Klaus Johannis disappearance

These complaints are pure political marketing, not else. Romania has four elections in 2024, and the campaigns have just started. However, Johannis is a fake target, as he is in his second presidential term. The real target is the Liberal Political Party – PNL, the now ruling party, and the Socialists. PNL is the party initially supporting Johannis for the presidential elections and his ten-year presidential mandate, Lobby Romania reports.

Johannis is known for his way of handling his mandate, with long periods of missing from the office, long vacations to exotic countries, and general apathy to protests or social turmoil in the country. Romanian farmers and transporters organized a massive protest following the German model; the negotiations reached no compromise, and the President’s intervention would’ve been much needed.

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Austria is not a NATO member, but it has officers accredited and actively participates in humanitarian aid. As the Austrian press mentions, two Austrian army officers have been waiting weeks for their accreditation with the alliance. Romania has delayed access and asked for time to consider the accreditation. In the Austrian journalists’ opinion, this is undoubtedly a retaliation for the Austrian federal government’s Schengen veto.

The reason for this to be seen as a diplomatic retaliation following Austria’s decision to block Romania’s access to Schengen is that Austria refused Romania and Bulgaria’s access to the Schengen area, even though the European Parliament recommended the member states to vote for the two Eastern European countries to be accepted.

The Romanian population protested in Romania against Austrian companies, and #boycottaustria became a popular movement after Austria’s decision. Also, a Romanian MEP asked Romania and Bulgaria to create the Little Schengen, as the name was coined.

Also, the Romanian Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, mentioned that Romania could bring Austria to the European Court of Justice for refusing access to Schengen. The losses brought to Romania and Bulgaria by Austria’s decision sum up to billions of EUR, and the European Commission and the European Parliament understood that. However, the Austrian federal government has points to gain in popularity, thus making everything possible to keep the two Eastern European nations out of Schengen.

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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.

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The authorities failed to see the abuses happening in these private nursing homes. More than that, the law-enforcement agencies reveal an entire mafia-type connection, with the owner in close relation with the authorities that were supposed to control the nursing home. Not only that, but the local media revealed that out of EUR 30,000 that the owner collected each month, he only used EUR 5,000 for food and maintenance of the nursing home, while the rest was his profit.

Among the prominent politicians targeted in the campaign, the local journalists started are the current Minister for the Family, Gabriela Firea, the former Bucharest Mayor. Her ties with the administrator of the infamous nursing home, who was her driver while she was General Mayor of Bucharest, are about to cost her the candidature for the position of General Mayor in 2024. Still, it’s yet too early to tell.

Another politician whose resignation is requested is the Minister for Labor, Marius Budai. Both politicians are leftists, members of the Social-Democratic Party, the same political formation now part of the Governing coalition. More than that, the current Prime Minister is a Socialist and has to decide whether to fire the two ministers, sacrificing the party’s chances for next year’s elections in Bucharest, or keep the ministers and lose the popularity of its party.

Our political sources say Marius Budai is the one who is to be sacrificed and to be fired by the Prime Minister, thus saving Gabriela Firea.

It’s a tough decision for Premier Marcel Ciolacu, who is also confronted with Agriculture, Construction and IT protests. These industries are about to lose the tax exemptions they enjoy at present.

The scandal of the nursing homes is getting bigger each day, and new details appear and reveal the horror the seniors had to suffer, even though they paid to be adequately treated and cared for. At the same time, this scandal shows the level of corruption and the indifference to the human values of those looking to profit at all costs.

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Media: Romanian Senator Diana Sosoaca has submitted a bill proposing for the southern region of Ukraine to join Romania. In this step, the marginal politician tries to “restore the cultural identity of the Romanian population.” This a classic example of the Russian revanchism method. We strongly condemn the attempt to question the territorial integrity of Ukraine to undermine the spirit of a good neighbourhood between Ukraine and Romania. The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine initiates sanctions on Diana Sosoaca as a person who threatens national security.

Oleg Nikolenko, spokesperson of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

This message comes after the Romanian senator initiated a law denouncing the treaty between Romania and Ukraine to get back the former Romanian territories from Ukraine.

The Romanian senator replied immediately and called the Ukrainian state “a nazi one”.

Through this vile attack on me, Ukraine proves its character as an abusive and fascist state. Through this threat that Ukraine makes to me, I become in solidarity with the Romanian minority in Ukraine, which Kyiv treats as a threat to the Ukrainian state, which is why it is systematically and programmatically abolished in the process of ethnic cleansing and forced Ukrainization reminiscent of Nazi Germany.
How can Ukraine afford to threaten a senator of the Romanian state for a legislative proposal? Since when does Ukraine decide what happens in the Romanian Parliament? Is Romania a state occupied by Ukraine, and we didn’t find out? Ukraine is indeed the occupier of some Romanian territories that I am fighting to return to the motherland’s bosom, but when does Kyiv have the right to veto Romania’s politics?
This threat to Ukraine shows this state’s intention to eliminate those who oppose Kyiv’s Nazi policies physically. By the statement of the Ukrainian MFA, it is clear that we have become the number one target of Ukrainian criminals. But this only confirms the justice of my legislative proposal to return the territories abusively owned by Ukraine to Romania!

Romanian Senator Diana Sosoaca on the announcement of her sanctioning by Ukraine

Also, Diana Sosoaca reminded the Ukrainian officials about a resolution of the United States issued in 1991, adopted by the American Senate, which supports the people’s right to self-determination in the Republic of Moldova and Northern Bukovina.

I also remind the Ukrainian MFA that my legislative provision is based on US Senate Resolution no. 148, of June 11, 1991, adopted by the American Senate, which clearly states “the conviction of the Senate that the United States must support the right to self-determination of the people of the Republic of Moldova and Northern Bucovina”. Is the US Senate also a threat to Ukraine’s national security? Also, my legislative proposal is based on the Declaration adopted on November 28, 1991, by the Parliament of Romania regarding the Referendum in Ukraine and published in the Official Gazette of Romania, which states that the referendum in Ukraine of December 1, 1991, “cannot be valid concerning the territories Romanian territories abusively annexed by the former U.S.S.R., territories that never belonged to Ukraine and belong to Romania by right”. So, is the Romanian Parliament a threat to Ukraine’s national security?

Diana Sosoaca Romanian Senator

There is no official position of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the intention of sanctioning a Romanian Senator for initiating a law.

As mentioned in our previous post, the law has close to zero chances of being adopted in Parliament. Yet, all this is a diplomacy lesson for all the novices, and in our opinion, no reaction from the Ukrainian MFA would have been the proper way to handle a law initiative of this sort. Now, as the Ukrainian officials reacted, the initiative got a new dimension, and things could escalate beyond initial expectations.

Also, the Ukrainian official makes a tiny mistake in his message. When naming the Romanian politician “a marginal one”, Nikolenko contradicts the measures announced. If the politician is marginal, you don’t sanction her. You don’t even pay attention to what she initiates. Or, if you sanction her, she’s not as marginal as you intend the public to think. Either way, Ukraine’s announcement offers her a significant position, and the Romanian politician will use this conflict as a new opportunity to promote herself and her ideas. Who wins?

The tensions between Romania and Ukraine are growing following the Bystroye Canal scandal, especially after Ukraine refused the Romanian ships to enter its territory to measure the extension of the dredging works conducted without the knowledge of the Romanian public. This new incident is only putting gas on the fire.

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The so-called Austrian boycott targeted all the major Austrian companies activating in Romania, including the oil giant OMV and banks like Raiffeisen and Erste BCR.

Soon after the widespread boycott started, Romania recalled its ambassador to Vienna. Also, the first state-owned Romanian companies announced their decision to cease cooperation with the Austrian banks. Besides, the Romanian Fiscal Agency announced that the Austrian oil giants are among the companies to pay the so-called “solidarity tax”, a decision contested by the targeted companies.

A month and a half after the vote on Schengen, Romania looks more than prone to concessions. The Romanian Government re-sent its ambassador to Vienna, drivers are queuing up to fill their cars’ tanks in OMV petrol stations and the Schengen scandal was replaced by other subjects on the public agenda. People forgot about their initial intention to open bank accounts with Romanian banks, and the Austrian products are still sold in supermarkets.

Is this weakness or part of a bigger plan of re-negotiating accession to Schengen? One thing is clear, though: Austria has spoiled its image in Romania, and people will definitely remember the vote on Schengen for a time, even if the government is successful in its attempt to join Schengen finally.

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