Former far-right populist quits Romanian politics
Calin Georgescu, the controversial populist whose bid for Romania's presidency resulted in the annulment of an election in the European Union and NATO member country, has announced he is stepping away from political life.
Georgescu upended Romania's political landscape in November when he ran as an independent and unexpectedly surged to frontrunner in the first round of the presidential election, going from an obscure candidate to beating the incumbent prime minister.
"I choose to be a passive observer of public and social life," the 63-year-old said in a video posted online on Monday.
"I choose to remain outside any political party structure ... I am not affiliated with any political group in any way."
Despite denying any wrongdoing, Georgescu was barred from the tense election re-run held in May, won by pro-EU candidate Nicusor Dan, who was sworn in on Monday.
Dan, a former Bucharest mayor, beat hard-right nationalist George Simion, who became Georgescu's nominal successor.
Georgescu said he made his decision to take a step back following the conclusion of the presidential race, which for him indicated "the sovereignist movement has come to a close".
"Even though this political chapter has ended, I am convinced that the values and ideals we fought for together remain steadfast," he said.
The outcome of Georgescu's success in 2024's chaotic election cycle sent shock waves through Romania's political establishment.
Despite what appeared to be a sprawling social media campaign promoting him, Georgescu had declared zero campaign spending.
A top Romanian court then made the unprecedented move to annul the election after allegations emerged of electoral violations and Russian interference.
He sparked controversy in the past for describing Romanian fascist and nationalist leaders from the 1930s and 1940s as national heroes.
He has also previously praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as "a man who loves his country" and questioned Ukraine's statehood, but he claims not to be pro-Russian.
In February, prosecutors opened criminal proceedings against Georgescu, accusing him of incitement to undermine the constitutional order, election campaign funding abuses, and founding or supporting fascist, racist, xenophobic, or anti-Semitic organisations, among other charges.
Prosecutors in Bucharest on Tuesday said they were extending the criminal investigation against him after remarks he made on television earlier in May, which could be interpreted as supporting ideas linked to fascist legionnaire figures from the 1930s and 1940s.
Calin Georgescu, the controversial populist whose bid for Romania's presidency resulted in the annulment of an election in the European Union and NATO member country, has announced he is stepping away from political life.
Georgescu upended Romania's political landscape in November when he ran as an independent and unexpectedly surged to frontrunner in the first round of the presidential election, going from an obscure candidate to beating the incumbent prime minister.
"I choose to be a passive observer of public and social life," the 63-year-old said in a video posted online on Monday.
"I choose to remain outside any political party structure ... I am not affiliated with any political group in any way."
Despite denying any wrongdoing, Georgescu was barred from the tense election re-run held in May, won by pro-EU candidate Nicusor Dan, who was sworn in on Monday.
Dan, a former Bucharest mayor, beat hard-right nationalist George Simion, who became Georgescu's nominal successor.
Georgescu said he made his decision to take a step back following the conclusion of the presidential race, which for him indicated "the sovereignist movement has come to a close".
"Even though this political chapter has ended, I am convinced that the values and ideals we fought for together remain steadfast," he said.
The outcome of Georgescu's success in 2024's chaotic election cycle sent shock waves through Romania's political establishment.
Despite what appeared to be a sprawling social media campaign promoting him, Georgescu had declared zero campaign spending.
A top Romanian court then made the unprecedented move to annul the election after allegations emerged of electoral violations and Russian interference.
He sparked controversy in the past for describing Romanian fascist and nationalist leaders from the 1930s and 1940s as national heroes.
He has also previously praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as "a man who loves his country" and questioned Ukraine's statehood, but he claims not to be pro-Russian.
In February, prosecutors opened criminal proceedings against Georgescu, accusing him of incitement to undermine the constitutional order, election campaign funding abuses, and founding or supporting fascist, racist, xenophobic, or anti-Semitic organisations, among other charges.
Prosecutors in Bucharest on Tuesday said they were extending the criminal investigation against him after remarks he made on television earlier in May, which could be interpreted as supporting ideas linked to fascist legionnaire figures from the 1930s and 1940s.
Calin Georgescu, the controversial populist whose bid for Romania's presidency resulted in the annulment of an election in the European Union and NATO member country, has announced he is stepping away from political life.
Georgescu upended Romania's political landscape in November when he ran as an independent and unexpectedly surged to frontrunner in the first round of the presidential election, going from an obscure candidate to beating the incumbent prime minister.
"I choose to be a passive observer of public and social life," the 63-year-old said in a video posted online on Monday.
"I choose to remain outside any political party structure ... I am not affiliated with any political group in any way."
Despite denying any wrongdoing, Georgescu was barred from the tense election re-run held in May, won by pro-EU candidate Nicusor Dan, who was sworn in on Monday.
Dan, a former Bucharest mayor, beat hard-right nationalist George Simion, who became Georgescu's nominal successor.
Georgescu said he made his decision to take a step back following the conclusion of the presidential race, which for him indicated "the sovereignist movement has come to a close".
"Even though this political chapter has ended, I am convinced that the values and ideals we fought for together remain steadfast," he said.
The outcome of Georgescu's success in 2024's chaotic election cycle sent shock waves through Romania's political establishment.
Despite what appeared to be a sprawling social media campaign promoting him, Georgescu had declared zero campaign spending.
A top Romanian court then made the unprecedented move to annul the election after allegations emerged of electoral violations and Russian interference.
He sparked controversy in the past for describing Romanian fascist and nationalist leaders from the 1930s and 1940s as national heroes.
He has also previously praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as "a man who loves his country" and questioned Ukraine's statehood, but he claims not to be pro-Russian.
In February, prosecutors opened criminal proceedings against Georgescu, accusing him of incitement to undermine the constitutional order, election campaign funding abuses, and founding or supporting fascist, racist, xenophobic, or anti-Semitic organisations, among other charges.
Prosecutors in Bucharest on Tuesday said they were extending the criminal investigation against him after remarks he made on television earlier in May, which could be interpreted as supporting ideas linked to fascist legionnaire figures from the 1930s and 1940s.
Calin Georgescu, the controversial populist whose bid for Romania's presidency resulted in the annulment of an election in the European Union and NATO member country, has announced he is stepping away from political life.
Georgescu upended Romania's political landscape in November when he ran as an independent and unexpectedly surged to frontrunner in the first round of the presidential election, going from an obscure candidate to beating the incumbent prime minister.
"I choose to be a passive observer of public and social life," the 63-year-old said in a video posted online on Monday.
"I choose to remain outside any political party structure ... I am not affiliated with any political group in any way."
Despite denying any wrongdoing, Georgescu was barred from the tense election re-run held in May, won by pro-EU candidate Nicusor Dan, who was sworn in on Monday.
Dan, a former Bucharest mayor, beat hard-right nationalist George Simion, who became Georgescu's nominal successor.
Georgescu said he made his decision to take a step back following the conclusion of the presidential race, which for him indicated "the sovereignist movement has come to a close".
"Even though this political chapter has ended, I am convinced that the values and ideals we fought for together remain steadfast," he said.
The outcome of Georgescu's success in 2024's chaotic election cycle sent shock waves through Romania's political establishment.
Despite what appeared to be a sprawling social media campaign promoting him, Georgescu had declared zero campaign spending.
A top Romanian court then made the unprecedented move to annul the election after allegations emerged of electoral violations and Russian interference.
He sparked controversy in the past for describing Romanian fascist and nationalist leaders from the 1930s and 1940s as national heroes.
He has also previously praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as "a man who loves his country" and questioned Ukraine's statehood, but he claims not to be pro-Russian.
In February, prosecutors opened criminal proceedings against Georgescu, accusing him of incitement to undermine the constitutional order, election campaign funding abuses, and founding or supporting fascist, racist, xenophobic, or anti-Semitic organisations, among other charges.
Prosecutors in Bucharest on Tuesday said they were extending the criminal investigation against him after remarks he made on television earlier in May, which could be interpreted as supporting ideas linked to fascist legionnaire figures from the 1930s and 1940s.
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Moscow did not comment on either attack. Russia's Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that it had gained control of the Ukrainian village of Novopil in the Donetsk region and took the village of Vodolahy in the northern Sumy region. Ukrainian authorities in Sumy ordered mandatory evacuations in 11 more settlements as Russian forces make steady gains in the area. The new additions bring the total number of settlements under evacuation orders in Sumy, which borders Russia's Kursk region, to 213. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said some 50,000 Russian troops have amassed in the area with the intention of launching an offensive to carve out a buffer zone inside Ukrainian territory. Speaking Saturday, Ukraine's top army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Russian forces were focusing their main offensive efforts on Pokrovsk, Torets and Lyman in the Donetsk region, as well as the Sumy border area. Syrskyi also said Ukrainian forces are still holding territory in Russia's Kursk region, a statement that Moscow has repeatedly denied. Russia said on April 26 that it had pushed all Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region after Ukrainian troops seized land there during a surprise incursion in August 2024. "The enemy is holding its best units here," Syrskyi said, referring to Kursk, "which it planned to use in the east". Elsewhere, 14 people were injured, including four children, after Ukrainian drones struck apartment buildings on Saturday in the Russian town of Rylsk and the village of Artakovo in the western Kursk region, local acting governor Alexander Khinshtein said. Andrii Yermak, a top adviser to Zelenskiy, said on Friday that Kyiv was ready to resume direct peace talks with Russia in Istanbul on Monday but that the Kremlin should first provide a promised memorandum setting out its position on ending the more than three-year war. Zelenskiy said Friday that Russia was "undermining diplomacy" by withholding the document. "For some reason, the Russians are concealing this document. This is an absolutely bizarre position. There is no clarity about the format," Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram. Moscow previously said it would share its memorandum during the talks. Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine have killed at least two people, including a nine-year-old girl, officials say, as uncertainty remains about whether Kyiv diplomats will attend a new round of peace talks proposed by Moscow for early next week in Istanbul. Russian troops launched some 109 drones and five missiles across Ukraine overnight and into Saturday, the Ukrainian Air Force said. Three of the missiles and 42 drones were destroyed and another 30 drones failed to reach their targets without causing damage, it said. The girl was killed in a strike on the front-line village of Dolynka in the Zaporizhzhia region, and a 16-year-old was injured, Zaporizhzhia's Governor Ivan Fedorov said. "One house was destroyed. The shock wave from the blast also damaged several other houses, cars, and outbuildings," Fedorov wrote on Telegram. A man was killed by Russian shelling in Ukraine's Kherson region, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram. Moscow did not comment on either attack. Russia's Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that it had gained control of the Ukrainian village of Novopil in the Donetsk region and took the village of Vodolahy in the northern Sumy region. Ukrainian authorities in Sumy ordered mandatory evacuations in 11 more settlements as Russian forces make steady gains in the area. The new additions bring the total number of settlements under evacuation orders in Sumy, which borders Russia's Kursk region, to 213. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said some 50,000 Russian troops have amassed in the area with the intention of launching an offensive to carve out a buffer zone inside Ukrainian territory. Speaking Saturday, Ukraine's top army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Russian forces were focusing their main offensive efforts on Pokrovsk, Torets and Lyman in the Donetsk region, as well as the Sumy border area. Syrskyi also said Ukrainian forces are still holding territory in Russia's Kursk region, a statement that Moscow has repeatedly denied. Russia said on April 26 that it had pushed all Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region after Ukrainian troops seized land there during a surprise incursion in August 2024. "The enemy is holding its best units here," Syrskyi said, referring to Kursk, "which it planned to use in the east". Elsewhere, 14 people were injured, including four children, after Ukrainian drones struck apartment buildings on Saturday in the Russian town of Rylsk and the village of Artakovo in the western Kursk region, local acting governor Alexander Khinshtein said. Andrii Yermak, a top adviser to Zelenskiy, said on Friday that Kyiv was ready to resume direct peace talks with Russia in Istanbul on Monday but that the Kremlin should first provide a promised memorandum setting out its position on ending the more than three-year war. Zelenskiy said Friday that Russia was "undermining diplomacy" by withholding the document. "For some reason, the Russians are concealing this document. This is an absolutely bizarre position. There is no clarity about the format," Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram. Moscow previously said it would share its memorandum during the talks.
