How not to fight against populism: a lesson in Romania

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Politics is always so easy to interpret after the event. After the anti -communist revolution of Romania de Romania, in the midst of a flowering of newspapers, an ultranationalist screw appeared on the streets. Convene Great Romania (Great Romania) soon inspired a political party with the same provocative name and the visions of Revanchist.

Both the role and the party were a decline in the 1930’s. Year after year, both fell to the shore. Although Romania moved, albeit in the main form, to the main current. In the early 2000’s he joined the European Union and NATO, a triumph after his last pass under communism.

And yet, now, in a horrible way, the spirit of Great RomaniaPolished with a Trumpiana sheet, it is the dominant force in the country. George SimionA politician infused with his right -wing ethos, is the leader in the presidential election of the second round of Sunday. Whatever the result, the many EU countries struggle to face populism You need to learn from Romania: It is a case study of cases on how to respond.

If Simion, a single football hooligan, has been triumphant that will mark the largest Romania disorder since 1989. Romania It can be about to incorporate in Hungary as a member of Rogue. None should be surprised.

Of course, there have been bidders arranged and relatives for this populist increase, which caused Simion to win 41 percent of the votes in the first round. It seems clear that Moscow dominated a cyber campaign to amplify the message on the right. Somnar electoral problems through bots is a well -spent path for Kremlin, and wonderfully cheap.

Then there are the old communist networks that have said that it has funded the Simion Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) and their traveling companions. Former Bucharest ex-secretary thrived after 1989 in an echo of the KGB larcenia. Their heirs and brotherhoods will feel rich in a state directed by Simion.

But unhealthy, such as these influences, the real guilty for the rise on the right are the establishment parties, which have alternated in a careful and corrupt manner in power for 35 years. A new generation of journalists and prosecutors emphasized the scandal after the scandal, especially under the Social Democrats. Monitor Collective, An Oscar -nominated corruption exhibition at the Health and Crying Service.

As is the case, the government of the outgoing coalition is possibly the cleanest in Romania, but it came too late to relieve popular discomfort with the status quo. (It was also unexpected to communicate your message.)

The establishment of Romania could not share the fruits of globalization, although it was too pleased with the threat of the right. Simion built his brand as anti-rape during the pandemic, exploiting a suspicion of the communist era of the state of the nanny. Since his party Aur entered the front -line politics in 2020, its nationalism has been too often reduced if it is not indulgyized by the mainstream.

What has shown madness. When the centrist establishment finally understood the scale of the threat, it reacted rawly, annulling the first round of last year’s election when it won another ultranationalist Călin Georgescu, quoting Russian interference. It was later forbidden to participate in the rerun by the Constitutional Court, based on outlined tests.

United States Vice President JD Vance added to the European Centrists in February when he left the EU to reduce freedom of expression without mentioning Russia’s tyranny. But he went to something when he suggested that the response to Georgescu was excessive. And yes, surprise, surprise, the ban seems to have fired on the right.

For Maga activists in the United States and beyond, a Simion victory would be another welcome nail to the EU coffin, although, in order to try to moderate, he says he will stay in NATO and the EU. The Kremlin must be Cock-to-Hoop to find itself as the Archive of Romania, as the country historically hated Russia. In terms of surviving hacks of Great Romania, Against the odds that his time has arrived.

The liberals of Romania and ethnic minorities They have set their dim hopes to Nicuşor Dan, the mayor of Bucharest, a rare record mathematician. Even if he wins, the country faces the crisis, but not in dysfunction.

Lord George iacobescuHe left Romania under communism and ended up running one of the great real estate businesses in Europe, Canary Wharf Group, desperates Aur’s supporters, in particular the many of the EU’s great diaspora who last voted for it. “They are destroying the country to get rid of their folding management,” he says. “It’s like burning a whole forest instead of dead trees.” A tale of precaution.

alec.russell@ft.com