The hard-right, nationalist candidate and AUR party George Simion has reached out to the Hungarian community in Romania and to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as he battles for every vote to win the presidential elections runoff on May 18.
Romanian presidential hopeful Simion praised Viktor Orbán and described the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians (RMDSZ) in Romania as a partner in the interview, conducted with editor in chief of Euronews Romania, Andra Diaconescu.
The 38-year-old pro-Trump politician came first in Sunday's repeat first round of the presidential election with 40.5% of the vote. The vote had to be re-run because the Romanian Constitutional Court annulled the election last December on the grounds of foreign interference and disqualified Calin Georgescu, who became known for his TikTok videos, from the race.
Simion was quizzed on how well he could work with Viktor Orbán and for his thoughts on Hungarians in Transylvania after they overwhelmingly voted against him.
"The Hungarian community had its own candidate. So they did not vote against me. They voted for their candidate," Simion replied.
In the interview, Simion congratulated the Hungarian minority RMDSZ party and described it as "a serious political partner" and "the only serious party among the governing parties in Bucharest".
"I would like in many aspects to follow in the footsteps of Viktor Orbán," Simion said, though he said their stances "differ in some respects".
"Viktor Orbán has proven to fight for family, for demography, for Christianity inside the EU institutions, so they will be partners for us, both Fidesz (the governing party in Hungary) and the RMDSZ," he said.
RMDSZ urges Hungarians to stop Simion
However, the feelings between Hungarians in Romania and Simion do not appear to be mutual. The Hungarian minority party UDMR/RMDSZ joined a wide government coalition to support single candidate, Crin Antonescu.
As a hard-right nationalist, Simion has been vocal against the Hungarian party and his nationalist positions clashed with the Hungarians for years. After the election, party president Hunor Kelemen thanked Hungarians for voting by more than 70% for the moderate candidate.
"We understood the danger, because we know what is at stake with a president who is anti-Hungarian and a government with anti-Hungarians," Hunor Kelemen said.
The RMDSZ president called on Hungarians to vote against Simion, who they consider to be anti-Hungarian.
"If Simion becomes president and the AUR is in government, our schools, our rights and our language use will be in danger," Kelemen warned.
Hungarian government avers neutrality in Romanian election
Romania has an ethnic Hungarian population of more than one million people, mostly located in the Transylvania region, among whom Viktor Orbán is very popular. The local ethnic Hungarian party, the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians (RMDSZ), also has several ties to the governing party in Hungary, Fidesz. Among them, the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, is highly popular. The RMDSZ also has several ties to the governing party in Hungary, Fidesz.
Viktor Orbán's government gave a muted reaction to Simion's success, despite having similar views over Trump, Ukraine and the European Union. The cabinet minister of the government, Gergely Gulyás told reporters the Hungarian government need not take sides in the Romanian presidential election campaign. Hungary will be ready to talk to any elected Romanian president about minority rights, Gulyás said.
Fidesz politicians have described Simion as anti-Hungarian, however, and in 2024, Fidesz pulled out from negotiations to join the Eurosceptic ECR group in the European Parliament after Simion's AUR party was admitted.
"Fidesz will never share a group with such a party in the European Parliament. It'**s not negotiable," Fidesz parliamentary group leader Máté Kocsis said in June 2024. Later, the spokesperson of the Hungarian government Zoltán Kovács called AUR anti-Hungarian.
In the Euronews interview, Simion spoke out in favour of Romania's membership of the EU and NATO, but said the EU was currently overstretching its powers and should instead create a Europe of nations.
