This past weekend, Romania’s electoral commission disqualified the frontrunner nationalist candidate, Calin Georgescu, from participating in May’s upcoming presidential contest, the latest development in an electoral saga started with the controversial cancellation of the presidential elections last December. Vice President J.D. Vance and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard already criticized the cancelling of the first round of elections as an example of democratic backsliding in the EU, but the latest developments present a geopolitical threat to American interests in an already volatile region, as well as a dire warning for the future of nationalist and anti-interventionist European parties.  

In addition to representing a clear insult to the Trump administration, which Georgescu openly embraces, the EU is sending a clear warning to other members that populist-nationalist parties will not be allowed to gain power despite winning elections. To dispel any doubt about the larger meaning of this, during a discussion about the possibility of the Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) coming to power, the former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton blatantly declared, “We did it in Romania, and obviously we will do it in Germany.” Washington must be clear-eyed about the kind of intransigent European Union leadership it will deal with for the foreseeable future, and conservatives in America must be similarly aware of the obstacles their European counterparts are likely to face. With leaders such as Ursula von der Leyen, Brussels represents the center of globalism and will be an ideological enemy to MAGA and any Trump-friendly European allies.    

The context of the Romanian saga is that Georgescu, a former UN diplomat maliciously described as “far right” in the Western press for his Trumpesque populist-nationalist views, was poised to win the presidency in the second round last year, after placing first in the initial round of voting. The Romanian Constitutional Court, in an unprecedented move in Romania’s post–Cold War democratic history, nullified the election based on alleged classified evidence provided by local intelligence services concerning Russian interference via TikTok. That such a ridiculous excuse of Russian support on TikTok would be considered sufficient reason to overturn an otherwise free and fair election in an EU country is exactly why Vance, along with Elon Musk and Kari Lake, recently criticized Romania’s electoral machinations in social media postings . 

In a move resembling the way Iran’s ayatollahs decide which candidates are ideologically reliable enough to be trusted with continuing the Islamist theocratic regime, Romania’s top court considered Georgescu’s views to be a threat to “the constitutional order and Romania’s Euro-Atlantic partnership.” And as unbelievable as it may sound for the highest court of a democratic EU and NATO member, this is the second time this election cycle the court banned a candidate from running for office based on this accusation of essentially advocating a nationalist, Eurosceptic foreign policy. Last year, Diana Sosoaca was similarly accused of representing a danger to national security for her conservative nationalist positions.