site.btaFormer Presidential Candidate Georgescu Marks Union Anniversary in Bucharest

Thousands of supporters greeted former Romanian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Bucharest’s Carol I Park on Saturday, where he laid flowers to mark the 167th anniversary of the union of the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia.

The crowd chanted “Calin Georgescu for president” and “Bring back the second round of the presidential election”. Some demonstrators waved Romanian flags, while others held placards reading “Wake up, Romania” and “Calin, we love you”. One man carried a wooden Dacian wolf with a snake’s body.

On December 6, 2024, the Constitutional Court of Romania annulled the first round of the presidential election, won by far-right independent candidate Georgescu, after intelligence information raised suspicions of interference by Russia, something Moscow denies. 

Georgescu told the crowd he was grateful for the turnout and said people were “tired of injustice”. “Romania is not lacking resources and capable people, but the truth that has not been told to the end,” he said, adding: “A nation that has awakened to its conscience can no longer be led by anyone; it becomes the master of its own destiny. You are those people. We demand the whole truth.”

Turning to foreign policy, Georgescu said the world was undergoing a “deep transformation” and argued that the Board of Peace envisioned by US President Donald Trump would bring “prosperity to all”. “The rules-based international order has changed. In fact, there were no rules. It was a neo-colonial system,” he said, adding that nations now wanted “independence, security, stable borders and sovereignty”.

He also criticized the European Union’s free trade agreement with MERCOSUR, signed after more than 25 years of negotiations to reduce tariffs and other barriers between the two blocs. Georgescu warned that when domestic production costs exceed import prices, local producers are forced out of the market. “That means you have sold your land… and ended up working someone else’s land. That is serfdom without chains,” he said.

After the gathering, supporters marched toward Victory Square to protest without official permission amid exceptionally tight security.