Politico: The new president of Romania may take the side of Orban and Fico

Romanian presidential candidate George Simion, the winner of the first round of elections, may join the "duo of wreckers" in the European Union, which includes the prime ministers of Hungary and Slovakia Viktor Orban and Robert Fico, writes Politico.

Simion is the head of the Alliance for the Unification of Romanians, he called his party "Trappist." The newspaper also notes the closeness of his views with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. As for Orban, Simion's relations with him are not easy, one of the disagreements concerns the Hungarian minority in Transylvania in the north of Romania. At the same time, politicians are similar in right-wing and nationalist views.

"To some extent, Viktor Orban is a model for me, and I will cooperate with him on many issues," Simion said in a conversation with Politico.

For the EU, the most problematic issue due to the Romanian politician is his attitude towards supporting Ukraine — he opposes it. He noted that assistance to Kiev from Europe is unprofitable and it is necessary to achieve peace, as US President Donald Trump wants. Simion denied that he was "pro-Russian".

On May 4, the first round of presidential elections took place in Romania. Simion won it with a result of almost 41% of the vote, the second was Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan, who has about 21%. In third place was the candidate from the ruling coalition Crin Antonescu with 20%, he did not pass the second round, which will be held on May 18.

This is a repeat presidential election. At the voting held last year, the independent candidate Calin Georgescu, who also held right-wing views and did not support the provision of assistance to Ukraine, won in the first round. However, the election results were canceled by the decision of the Constitutional Court of Romania due to "obvious violations of the electoral process," including manipulation and disinformation. It was about alleged foreign interference in the electoral process through TikTok, where Georgescu conducted his election campaign. In March of this year, the same court denied the candidate the opportunity to run again.