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It didn’t come out of nowhere, we only hear it now
The key to the success of fourth place AUR (GOLD in Hungarian) in the parliamentary elections is the support of the European Romanian diaspora, their opposition to the political elite and their campaign on social media. Romania’s message to improve Romania, unite Romanians and eradicate corruption and nepotism resonated well with millions of Romanian citizens living abroad, also contributing to receiving almost half a million votes in an almost unknown election last year. happened in Britain, according to press reports. party founded.
The AUR Facebook pages performed exceptionally well in the campaigns compared to the online activities of other Romanian parties. According to Radio Free Europe, the party leaders did not begin to politicize today. Each of them has followers who have been able to join successfully under the name AUR.
According to János T. Barabás, chief analyst at the Institute for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economy (KKI), who told the Index, the campaign’s rhetoric revolved around three main themes:
- ethnic-based nationalism and revisionist aspirations, the unification of all Romanians;
- confrontation with epidemiological measures (anti-masking, virus denial);
- the promotion of traditional family values in accordance with the guidelines of the Orthodox Christian religion.
Demagogic Writers Association
Romanians are fed up with theft, lies and a lack of attachment to national values. We are a Christian, nationalist, patriotic party
Said AUR founder George Simion, 34, in his post-parliamentary victory speech.
Like the other members of the leadership, Simion is not new to Romanian public life. He began his public career as a footballer, for which he founded the football and hockey ultra-groups Honor et Patria and Uniți Sub Tricolor, which bring together fans of the Romanian national team. According to transindex.ro
his frequent rhymes include “Afara cu ungurii din tara”, which means “Who with the Hungarians of the country”.
Simion was a leading figure in the extreme grave-destruction movement that stormed the Úz Valley Military Cemetery, during which Romanian protesters clashed with Hungarians defending the cemetery.
Another influential figure in the AUR, Dan Tanasă, a blogger who made fun of the “pseudonym”, also played a leading role in the New Valley incident. Tanasa was actively involved in the party’s online campaign. A KKI investigator recalls:, which raises the possibility that, with the approval of the Romanian secret services, an action that appeared to be a civil initiative was carried out with the aim of intimidating the Hungarians.
Also worth mentioning is former journalist Claudiu Târziu, another co-chair of the AUR, who in 2018, as a member of the NGO Coalition for Family, initiated a referendum to ban same-sex marriage. It was unsuccessful.
The worldview of the three exemplary party members also reflects the AUR’s campaign narrative: anti-Hungarian, anti-LGBTQ (i.e. gay and lesbian), anti-mask, propaganda of orthodox Christian values, revisionism, ethnically based nationalism and opposition to the political elite. corruption and nepotism, the eradication of my teacher-brother world.
THE FESTIVAL IS A MERGING POINT OF DIFFERENT EXTREME APPROACHES, OF WHICH ALL CAN BE CHARACTERIZED ACCORDING TO THE OPINIONS OF THE ROMANS UNSATISFIED BY THE CURRENT POLICY.
Barabás does not see a coherent and coordinated position in the AUR. He cites as an example that one day they talk about the colonization of Romania in the EU, and other times they claim that they are supporters of the free market. On the one hand, they recognize Russia for its good relations with the Orthodox Church and the protection of Christian values, and on the other hand, they brand President Vladimir Putin as an assassin.
Siegfried Mureșan, Member of the European Parliament for the Romanian National Liberal Party (NLP), spoke to Euronews, for example, about the AUR as a pro-Russian anti-EU bloc that represents a small part of the Romanian population.
Speaking about Russia, Simion described Moscow’s actions as harmful to Romania and complained:
“Hungary is a great friend of Vladimir Putin.”
On the other hand, he spoke with appreciation of Poland as an example to follow, which he said opposed the EU to assert its own interests.
A unified and indivisible state
The AUR considers the Hungarian Democratic Alliance (DAHR) in Romania to be extremist and, if it could, it would ban ethnically organized political groups through a constitutional amendment.
Hungarians appeared several times on the ultra-nationalist party program
The CCI analyst explains. The Hungarian majority areas, namely Harghita, Covasna and Mureş counties, are accused of repressing the Romanian minority living there. The party also claims that there is a genocide against the Romanian minority living abroad, living abroad.
Furthermore, the AUR, which emphasizes its article establishing national sovereignty in the first paragraph of the Romanian Constitution, provides for retaliation against all attempts that threaten the unity of the country and the people, including autonomy.
Soccer match leader
In many places you can read in the press that the AUR was founded in the UK as a party of the Romanian diaspora. The KKI researcher has doubts about the location of the foundation. He sees the importance of Britain in the presence of the party’s main sponsor, Hollywood producer Bobby Păunescu, whose father also served in the Securitate, the secret police of the late Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu.
Paunescu has been prosecuted by the Romanian authorities for bank fraud and embezzlement of investment funds.
However, to understand the alleged relationship between the AUR and the Romanian secret service, it is essential to review the political career of George Simion.
Born in Foksány, Moldova, Simion has been dreaming of the restoration of Greater Romania before World War II and the unification of Romania and Moldova since at least 2012. He organized several trade union demonstrations in the neighboring country. He also created a network, founded newspapers, and organized bus trips to the Republic of Moldova.
Barabas notes:
All of this requires money, but it is doubtful that Simion, who had no more serious income, created the necessary financial resources himself.
The AUR leader has been expelled from Moldova several times. On one occasion, during a demonstration in Chisinau, he deviated from the officially authorized route, causing misfortune, resulting in his imprisonment in Moldova. Romanian businessman Sebastian Ghiță, who was selling voting software in Romania, stepped in to free him. The vote counting is done by the Romanian secret service, says the Hungarian analyst.
According to Simion’s asset statement, he has practically nothing.
He did not mark any property other than a 2006 Ford Fiesta, in 2020 he had no income, no real estate, but not even a bank account.
In 2019, he worked as a marketing director for 3,200 lei (about 230,000 guilders) a month, but also claimed to have sold his apartment in order to run as an independent candidate in the European Parliament elections. He has already appeared in Úzvölgy as an independent MEP. It also received some 117,000 votes in the elections.
He did not enter the EP, but did not have to wait long for the AUR, the new representative of the Romanian Romanian diaspora, to form. In the local elections in September this year, he was also able to run a test round before voting in parliament: he won three mayors and 79 city councilors, although he was nowhere to be found in county governments.
It was worth voting for the AUR
The electoral colleges established in foreign countries, such as Spain, Italy and England, are provided by Romanian diplomacy. However, the personnel were contributed by the AUR in several cases in the current elections.
However, this cannot happen without the knowledge and permission of Romanian diplomacy.
Barabas says.
And with all that, what could have been the purpose of the secret service? Stealing votes from the Social Democratic PSD and Saving Romania from the previously well-performing diaspora, also known as the Romanian push (USR-PLUS) In essence, the AUR has absorbed ultra-nationalist-minded voters who, with the resignation of the appropriately named Party from Greater Romania almost ten years ago, they sought representation but moved elsewhere until then.
The activities of the secret service may also be indicated by the fact that Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who has had several conflicts with the PSD, is sitting in the chairmanship of the National Security Council, which groups these organizations. And the aim of AUR’s “vote stealing” may be that right-wing liberal parties, such as the PNL, form a government.
The golden age of nationalism
In recent years, Romanian politics have been oriented towards demagogic and nationalistic policies and parties are forced to adapt to trends.
– says the KKI employee.
The competition for nationalist rhetoric has now been won by the AUR, which has done so with the new kind of far-right tools: emotionally-based politicking and strategic exploitation of social media.
The ultra-nationalist party is still isolated, but its electoral success is definitely bad news for Hungarians in Romania, anti-Hungarian demonstrations in Romanian politics will increase.
Barabbas predicts.
Opposition to EU values and extremist nationalism are of interest to Russia, regardless of whether Moscow has anything to do with the AUR.
(Cover image: Posters for the Association of Romanians for Unification (AUR) at the party headquarters in Bucharest on December 7, 2020, one day after the Romanian parliamentary elections. Photo: Vadim Ghirda / MTI)
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