A recent opinion poll indicated that the right-wing extremist Union for the Alliance of Romanians (AUR) party is at the top of Romanian citizens’ preferences. However, the party of George Simion attracts votes from the other two far-right parties represented in the Romanian Parliament. But Simion’s participation in a MAGA anti-Greenland event in Washington sparked new criticism from within his party, led by the former vice-President and co-founder, Marius Lulea.
Since 2024, Romanian society has been deeply polarised, with pro-EU and democratic forces fighting against a rising far-right, helped by Russia-led disinformation campaigns. Romania re-ran its presidential election last year after cancelling the original ballot in December 2024 due to suspicions of Russian interference favouring far-right candidate Călin Georgescu. This led to the country’s worst political crisis in decades, exposing vulnerabilities to hybrid attacks and disinformation.
A four-party coalition government that came to power after the new ballot raised taxes and cut state spending to address the EU’s largest budget deficit. While these measures helped narrow the deficit from over 9% of economic output in 2024 to an expected 6% this year and secured EU funding, they also sparked protests and boosted support for the far-right opposition.
Right extremists
Romania’s far-right opposition party, AUR, is leading in popularity, according to a recent INSCOP poll conducted from 12 to 15 January. With a sample size of 1,100, the survey revealed that 40.9% of Romanians would vote for AUR, marking the highest support for a far-right party in over three decades.
In comparison, the ruling coalition’s four parties lag significantly: the Social Democrats (PSD) at 18.2%, the National Liberal Party (PNL) at 13.5%, the centre-right Save Romania Union (USR) at 11.7%, and the ethnic Hungarian party, UDMR, at 4.9%. However, no elections are scheduled until 2028.
AUR, a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group at the European Parliament, advocates for the union of Romania with Moldova and has neo-fascist and extremist factions. This pro-Kremlin party recently openly supported US President Donald Trump and the MAGA ideology. AUR opposes the EU and embraces various far-right views, including anti-LGBTI and anti-immigrant sentiments, while promoting hate speech and conspiracy theories.
Following the 2020 elections, the far-right party gained significant political traction but has since faced internal splits. In 2021, a split formed the far-right party S.O.S. Romania, which is led today by former AUR Senator MEP Diana Șoșoacă. S.O.S. Romania secured 7.36% of the vote in the 2024 parliamentary elections. In 2023, the Party of Young People (POT) emerged, supporting independent candidate Călin Georgescu in the presidential election; POT received 6.46% of the votes.
In the 2024 elections, AUR received 18.01% of the votes, finishing second. Recent polls suggest that AUR has attracted most voters from S.O.S. Romania and POT, which currently stand at 2.8% and 1.5%, respectively. Despite declining support, the government coalition parties could still form a new coalition government.
US cake case: superficiality and opportunism combined
On Tuesday, 20 January, Simion attended an event organised by the far-right group Republicans for National Renewal, which supports Trump’s bid for an unconstitutional third term. During the event at the Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C., a cake shaped like Greenland, decorated in the colours of the US flag, was cut. Simion proudly took part in the event and cut the Greenland cake. This “Greenland cake scene” sparked harsh criticism on social media, including backlash from party publications aligned with his internal opponents.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Marius Lulea stated, “Greenland is Denmark. Denmark is Europe. Europe is Romania,” indirectly referencing George Simion’s slogan, “Bessarabia is Romania,” which he has promoted through graffiti. Before becoming co-leader of AUR, Simion was a pro-union activist known for high-profile protests. Currently, he is banned from Moldova.
[© Republicans for National Renewal @RNRenewal]
AUR was founded to advocate for the unification of ethnic Romanians in Romania, Moldova, and parts of Hungary, but has since expanded its platform. Lulea suggested that certain gestures of Simion’s travel to the US undermine Simion’s strong sovereignism and patriotism. He added, “Imagine if the Danes created a display with a map of Romania cut out. How would we feel about that?”
Simion also forgot that in 2024, just two years ago, accused the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of irredentism. It was in February 2024, months before the European elections. Orbán’s party, FIDESZ, was no longer a member of the European People’s Party (EPP), and the Hungarian prime minister was searching for a new home for his party. He then anticipated that FIDESZ was in talks to join the ECR Group after the June elections.
The announcement made several ECR members nervous, and they rejected the idea of hosting Orbán’s party in the ECR last February. Four members, the Czech Civic Democrats (ODS), the Sweden Democrats, the Flemish Nationalist NVA and Romania’s AUR, threaten to quit the ECR group if Orbán joins it. The reason AUR objected to the idea was that Orbán caused a diplomatic brawl with neighbouring countries in November 2022, talking of a ‘Greater Hungary, which included territories of the EU member states Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Croatia, and Ukraine.
It is not rare that far-right politicians, in their effort to scream louder than the others, commit gaffes. However, this one proves Simion’s opportunism and superficiality.
Internal opposition?
Marius Lulea has served as AUR’s second-in-command for several years. A co-founder of the party alongside George Simion, Lulea is regarded as more moderate compared to the party leader. However, due to the party’s practice of maintaining confidentiality regarding many internal matters, the timeline of Lulea’s divergence from Simion remains unclear.
The first indication of Lulea’s public distancing occurred during the May 2025 presidential elections, when he acknowledged Simion’s defeat to Nicușor Dan in a Facebook post, despite Simion’s simultaneous claims of electoral fraud. Subsequently, on 10 June 2025, Lulea criticised Simion in a media interview, characterising him as “arrogant.”
Lulea faced repercussions for his statements in November when he was removed from his vice-presidential position at the AUR congress. Additionally, he expressed his disapproval of Simion’s endorsement of Anca Alexandrescu, a TV personality, as a candidate for the Bucharest mayoral elections, which he deemed an inappropriate choice. In this context, Lulea wrote on social media that “Bucharest is a university city, and neglecting educated young people while assuming they can be easily misled is a significant oversight.”
While Lulea remains a member of AUR, the potential impact of his criticisms on Simion’s leadership remains uncertain. Currently, there are no apparent signs of a new split within AUR; however, Lulea’s remarks pose a challenge to Simion’s efforts to cultivate a strong leadership image.
