Macron takes centre stage in Romania's election showdown
With just hours before the end of Romania's fiery presidential election campaign, French President Emmanuel Macron has found himself at the centre of the battle between hard-right candidate George Simion and his contender, independent centrist Nicusor Dan.
The leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), Simion chose France as the finish line for his election campaign, reaching out to the decisive votes of the Romanian diaspora but also declaring his aversion to Macron.
Invited to a live talk show on Thursday in Paris, Simion proclaimed his love for France and then bluntly accused Macron of 'dictatorial tendencies' and stated that France 'interfered in the Romanian elections,' much to the surprise of the show host, who swiftly confronted him by saying, 'France is a democracy, without dictatorial tendencies.'
'I don't like Emmanuel Macron's dictatorial tendencies,' Simion said, to which the host replied that 'if you already call your counterpart a dictator, this is promising for Romania's relations with France.'
Simion's outburst sparked a furore in Romania, which is transfixed by the presidential race, as Simion and Dan are neck and neck in the latest opinion polls before the vote on Sunday.
But on Friday, the hard-right candidate chose to continue the charge when he met the French media in an event organised by far-right French MEP Marion Marechal, who endorsed Simion.
The AUR leader continued his attack, saying that 'Macron is not just dictatorial, but if things go in this rhythm, in 20-50 years we won't be able to talk of the France that we know."
"It can become anything, maybe a caliphate or something else," Simion said.
"We don't respect Emmanuel Macron who is trying to interfere in our election. He did it in December. He is doing it again now, through the French embassy," he added.
"My message is very clear: this is none of your business. Nor that of Vladimir Putin. It's none of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's business. It's not Donald Trump's business. This is the decision of the free and sovereign Romanian people. You are not an emperor. You don't even really love the French people.'
While Simion was raging against Macron in the French capital on Friday, his contender Nicusor Dan, who studied mathematics at the Sorbonne in Paris, released a video of a warm conversation between him and Macron.
In his social media post, Dan says that 'while my contender was insulting the French people right at their home, I had a dialogue with Monsieur Emmanuel Macron,' while thanking him for his support.
The video starts with Macron speaking in English to which Dan replies that they can talk in French, 'because I spent few years in Paris long time ago', in contrast to Simion's talk-show performance in which he displayed an approximate French, ultimately switching to Romanian, much to a further-fuelled debate across Romanian social media.
During the call, Macron praises France and Romania's profound relations and legacy, concluding that 'what is at stake in these elections is of course the key to not only Romania's destiny, but also ours.'
Therefore, the French president said, 'it is essential to have a pro-European partner involved in the collective security and economic modernity'.
Dan replied that 'security is without a doubt Europe's main concern' and 'this is the first thing that must be developed if I become the president of Romania.'
'We must pass this Sunday for Romania's direction to be clearly towards Europe,' Dan concluded.
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