On Wednesday, the President of Romania, Nicușor Dan, provided a harsh response to accusations made by the US Congress Judiciary Committee, which is predominantly composed of Republican members. The committee alleged that the European Commission engaged in censorship and exerted pressure, particularly concerning the cancelled presidential elections in Romania.
President Dan affirmed, “Romania is a strong democracy in which the decisions of responsible institutions, made in accordance with the Constitution and existing laws, are to be respected. Our commitment to the rule of law, transparency, freedom of expression, and the integrity of electoral processes remains resolute, as does our dedication to all our allies and strategic partners.”
The president’s comments were prompted by a report from the US Congressional Judiciary Committee that questioned whether Russia may have interfered in Romania’s 2024 presidential elections. It is noteworthy that even the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has publicly supported Călin Georgescu in an official statement. President Dan rejected the allegations from the US committee, highlighting that “the references to the 2024 presidential elections presented in the report are strictly descriptive and only partially reflect the response of a single private entity, the TikTok platform. They do not constitute, nor can they replace, a legal assessment.”
Furthermore, a spokesperson for the European Commission strongly refuted the claims in the Judiciary Committee’s report, calling them “completely absurd and unfounded.” This report echoes sentiments reminiscent of the anti-EU MAGA rhetoric often associated with certain political leaders, including US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
In his statement, President Dan clarified, “Romania is not the subject of the Preliminary Report from the U.S. House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee, and the references to our country within the document are purely contextual, situated within a broader discourse on freedom of expression.”
He further stated that the mentions of the 2024 presidential election in the report are merely descriptive and are drawn only in part from the TikTok platform’s response. “These references do not represent, nor can they be considered a substitute for, a legal evaluation. Moreover, the TikTok platform has publicly acknowledged that it has proactively identified multiple networks of deceptive influence, prevented and eliminated tens of thousands of fake accounts and interactions, and banned hundreds of accounts impersonating presidential candidates,” President Dan stated.
Additionally, the president explained that, irrespective of TikTok’s technical conclusions cited in the report, the decision to cancel the presidential elections was a domestic legal determination made to safeguard the constitutional order against an asymmetric threat, based on evaluations from national security institutions and the authority of the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR).
“The decision of CCR”, emphasised President Dan, “was founded on documentation that unequivocally indicated the distortion of equal opportunities among candidates and significant manipulation of the electoral campaign by a single candidate. This manipulation involved the non-transparent and illegal use of digital technologies and artificial intelligence, as well as undeclared financing of the electoral campaign, including online.”
Reports from NATO, the European Union, and the UK Government have also underscored the Russian Federation’s interference in electoral processes within various European nations, including Romania. Such interference constitutes a broad campaign aimed at destabilising European democracies, representing an ongoing hybrid war that has persisted for many years.
