New Romanian Revolution Is Curtailing

Christian RUSSU

The reaction to Calin Georgescu’s revolutionary impulses that shook Romanian society was the result of a banal collusion between the political elite in Bucharest and the bureaucracy in Brussels, with the acquiescence of the new US administration

On 9 March, close to nightfall, the world saw footage of a street confrontation in Bucharest between security forces and supporters of opposition politician Calin Georgescu. In front of the CEC building, civil activists expressed their anger, broke down fences, and threw firecrackers. The riot police responded with batons and tear gas. The mass demonstrations in Romania, familiar to cities like Tbilisi or Paris, reminded many people of the long-forgotten confrontation with the Communist regime 35 years ago. “However, the followers of Georgescu failed to defend their constitutional rights. Partly because of the lack of present-day experience of real struggle without the support of such structures as USAID, partly because of the fear of the bulk of the population, but mostly because of the banal collusion of political elites. Only four out of fourteen members of the Central Electoral Bureau were in favor of registering Calin Georgescu. The oppositionist then tried to seek justice at the Constitutional Court, but given its being composed of entirely ruling coalition proxies, there was essentially no chance of that. On Tuesday, the CC judges unanimously rejected all 12 appeals of the lawyers. By that time, the protests were already peaceful, without radical calls from the so-called “sovereignty supporters” to “crucify the usurpers in the street”. However, the most important signal that the new Romanian revolution was curtailing was the lack of U.S. reaction. Many in Romania had hoped for a democratic change of power with the new American administration. The rebuff to the Eurourocrats from U.S. Vice President Vance in Munich created false hopes that Trump’s entourage would not abandon Romanian forces ideologically close to themselves. After all, who else but the current White House owner would know all the hardships of the struggle for the right to be elected and understand the resistance of the deep state. However, our neighbors over Prut in red baseball caps were disappointed in the same way that concerned citizens of Russia or Ukraine after Trump’s seemingly contradictory actions and statements. All of them sincerely believed that Washington cared about them, that someone else would solve their own problems with democracy in the country. Meanwhile, the ruling coalition in Romania was by no means idle, making efforts to strengthen its legitimacy not so much on the domestic perimeter as abroad. Social Democrat leader Marcel Ciolacu ruled out any criticism of the new U.S. administration and actively sought contacts with Trump’s representatives through Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The Romanian prime minister deliberately criticized acting President Ilie Bolojan for excessive support of Brussels in disputes with Washington, and at the same time sent his emissaries to Mar-a-Lago to win the American leader’s favor. The most successful among them was former Prime Minister Victor Ponta, who is now running for president. Therefore, despite the vivid criticism of the cancellation of the presidential election, Brussels and Washington apparently agreed with the restart of the electoral process in Romania. This is natural, as the main contenders for the Cotroceni seat expressed their full willingness to balance the interests of their key foreign partners. Against this background, the behavior of all the “sovereign” political forces and the masses sympathizing with them on the eve of and after the announcement of the verdicts of the Romanian electoral commission and the Constitutional Court is remarkable. In general, disunity and confusion reign in their ranks. AUR party leader George Simion, who had assured until the last minute of his full support for Calin Georgescu and of no plans of his own to run, finally announced his intention to enter the race together with the leader of the Party of Young People (POT), Anamaria Gavrila. Allegedly, this decision was a “common response” after consultations with Georgescu, a kind of “plan B”. For diversion, it is stated that one of the two nominated leaders, after registering with the CEB, will then withdraw in favor of the other. There is no doubt that Simion was aware of the opportunities he had to ride the protest wave in the event of Georgescu’s withdrawal from the race and was preparing in advance for his finest hour. The leader of the SOS Romania party, Diana Sosoaca, who recently called for the unity of all progressive parties, was cool to the initiatives of her colleagues and announced her own plans to participate in the elections. In the light of recent events, a number of public figures are calling for a boycott of the upcoming elections, others are arguing about more worthy opposition candidates, while others are trying to draw attention to their own personalities. It can be said that Romania is successfully testing Plahotniuc’s scenario of preserving power: organizing a de facto illegitimate vote to overcome protests, in which, however, all oppositionists are willingly included. This is how the Moldovan democrats neutralized the alliance of the right and left in 2016, offering them to participate in direct presidential elections. Meanwhile, everyone is actively exploiting the image of ‘revolutionary Georgescu’. Simion presents himself as his associate and the only candidate with a realistic chance of winning. Victor Ponta, who has formally left the ranks of the Social Democratic Party, convinces every one of his opposition to the ruling coalition and promises to nominate Georgescu as prime minister if he wins. But the troublemaker himself and the initiator of the political crisis in Romania seems to have realized the limits of what is permissible, declaring that he has fulfilled his mission to “awaken the Romanians”. It is hard to disagree with this statement. The electorate did wake up, but in the end, those in power successfully channeled this energy in the direction they wanted. Yes, the victims of the failed revolution were not only Georgescu himself, but also the leaders of the ruling coalition. Nicolae Ciuca was sent to the dustbin of history, and the current prime minister Marcel Ciolacu will also be forced to step into the shadows. New faces will come to the forefront of political life beyond the Prut, but they will be led behind the scenes by the former political elite, which has secured the support of Brussels and Washington.