Led by Simion’s party, Romania would be a more hostile and erratic partner for Brussels: He does not want the European Commission imposing its will over public spending, would opt out of funding Ukraine and would resist common EU migration policy.
“My hope is that we have a change in power … democracy is about alternating in power, so they have to do the democratic thing and let us govern … listen to the vote of the people,” he told POLITICO.
Romania’s current crisis hinges on the country’s need to take severe austerity measures to fix its deficit. The main rupture in the governing coalition began after the center-left Social Democratic Party (PSD) withdrew its support for Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan of the center-right National Liberal Party (PNL) over the scale of spending cuts.
Simion slammed the current coalition as an “unnatural alliance” of four governing parties, as it includes the the liberal Union Save Romania (USR) and the party representing the Hungarian minority (UDMR) in addition to the PSD and PNL — two parties that have alternated being in power since the fall of Communism in 1989.
For his part, Simion said: “We are willing to talk with everybody to create a government.”
Closely aligned with U.S. President Donald Trump, Simion has traveled to Washington multiple times — including for last year’s inauguration. He positions himself as a leading figure in Europe’s rising right-wing sovereigntist movement, regularly organizing “Make Europe Great Again” conferences and maintaining close ties with prominent right-wing leaders like Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and France’s Marine Le Pen.