Through violence, sovereignist protesters contradict their teacher

Călin Georgescu has been saying since the fall of last year that he wants to bring peace to the Romanian people. We do not know what Georgescu's concept of peace consists of, but it seems that in the heated minds of some of his sympathizers, awakened in conscience, peace translates into violence. Only in this way can the attacks on the police and the destruction caused in the center of the capital by Călin Georgescu's supporters be explained after the Central Electoral Bureau, with a qualified majority, 10 votes in favor and 4 votes against, rejected his candidacy for the presidential elections whose first round is scheduled to take place on May 4.

Even if the BEC decision seems at first glance to be abusive and illegal, in a democracy the arguments against do not mean assaulting journalists, attacking police and vandalizing public space. Unfortunately, even the leader of the AUR, George Simion, joined the violence, whose first reaction after the BEC decision was reprehensible, saying that those guilty of rejecting Călin Georgescu's candidacy "should be skinned alive in the public square". Later, yesterday, Simion tried to clear up the filth and stated that he also expressed himself like Traian Băsescu who in 2004 invited people to be impaled in Victoriei Square. However, the AUR president got confused in the explanation offered for the violent verbal outburst he had on the evening of March 9, saying that he actually referred to the skinning of privileges and special pensions. When you express that the people in question deserve to be "skinned alive in the public square", it does not mean that you are thinking about canceling the privileges and special pensions. George Simion probably thought that, like Călin Georgescu, he could say something today and say the opposite tomorrow.

It seems that this issue was noticed by the members of the National Audiovisual Council who requested the removal of the message sent by Simion from the internet after the BEC decision, but also by the leaders of REPER, who yesterday notified the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Bucharest Tribunal regarding the statements inciting violence on the evening of March 9, by both George Simion and Călin Georgescu.

Furthermore, the Prosecutor General's Office announced in a press release that it had opened a criminal case against George Simion, in which it is analyzing his statements in rem.

The press release quoted states: "The Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice notified ex officio, on March 10, 2025, regarding the commission of the crime of public incitement, provided for by art. 368 para. 1 and 2 of the Criminal Code. In fact, it was noted that on the evening of March 9, 2025, in the context of a protest that took place in Bucharest, the president of a political party, who is also a deputy in the Romanian Parliament, made a series of statements inciting violence. We note that in this case the criminal prosecution is being carried out in rem.

We specify that the activities carried out in the file cannot, under any circumstances, defeat the principle of the presumption of innocence".

• Georgescu calls for battle, Potra calls for armed insurrection

As for Călin Georgescu, we point out that, after the BEC decision, he stated: "A direct blow to the heart of democracy worldwide! I have only one more message! If democracy in Romania falls, the entire democratic world will fall! This is just the beginning. It is that simple. Europe is now a dictatorship, Romania is under tyranny!".

Călin Georgescu's message came after, a few days earlier, in a video post on TikTok and Facebook, he had sent to his supporters: "They canceled our elections. Our free, constitutional right, for which he died 35 years ago. What more harm can you do to a people than to take away the freedom to choose democratically? This system has corrupted everything that we hold most sacred. The destiny of a nation is built through sacrifices. It is not easy, but it is necessary. I know that many, many of you support me, (...) it is important for you to know that in these moments we are in a fight that cannot be won from behind phone or TV screens. I do not need likes or followers on Facebook. I need to know that we are all united for the same cause, but united in a real, physical, palpable way, for the same ideal. Everything for freedom. Everything. Otherwise, it is useless to support ourselves only on Facebook or other social media platforms. I, for my people, am fighting an entire corrupt system. And I am fighting with honor, with faith and with love. But it is necessary that the people in turn also want this fight, to have the strength not to be defeated by all these actions directed against our sacred rights".

REPER considers in the complaint sent to the Prosecutor's Office that George Simion, Călin Georgescu and Horaţiu Potra committed the crimes of public incitement and outrage that occurred in the context of the events of March 9, 2025. Why Horaţiu Potra? Because Călin Georgescu's mercenary - as Potra is known - asked his former comrades-in-arms in Congo to get involved in violent actions after the BEC decision. Moreover, in a subsequent message, Potra asked the Romanian military, from any unit, to revolt, to arrest their generals and to put themselves at the service of the people for a national insurrection, aimed at changing the current constitutional order. Horaţiu Potra is not the first to deviate in this direction, his history being quite rich, culminating in the accusations brought against him by the Prosecutor General's Office on February 26, which also led to his preventive arrest in absentia, but also to the issuance of an international arrest warrant. It is curious, however, why the same authorities of the Romanian state tolerated all of Potra's activities, all these years, given that he first came to the attention of prosecutors in 2010, when Traian Berbeceanu ordered his detention. Moreover, how was it possible, given that Potra was under judicial control, for him to leave Romania unhindered before being detained by the Prosecutor General's Office at the end of February? And why have the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Internal Affairs still not managed to locate him and request his extradition, although photographs have appeared in the press showing that Potra had already been in Dubai since January?

• BEC appealed to the substantive conditions established last year by the CCR: respect for the Constitution and the defense of democracy

The dissatisfaction of Călin Georgescu and George Simion with the BEC decision would seem justified at first glance, if we focus strictly on the attributions of the respective institution as defined by law. According to Article 29 of Law 370/2004, amended and republished in 2025, on the election of the President of Romania: "The Central Electoral Bureau verifies the fulfillment of the substantive and formal conditions provided for by this law for candidacies, registers the candidacies that meet these conditions and rejects the registration of candidacies that do not meet the legal conditions. As for the formal conditions, that is, regarding the documents that had to be in the candidacy file, it seems, from the BEC decision, that there were no problems, but the candidacy was rejected only for not meeting the substantive conditions".

The above legislative text contradicts yesterday's statement by George Simion who stated that the BEC had no reason to reject Călin Georgescu's candidacy, because all the documents (formal conditions) were in order. However, the text stipulates that the BEC must also verify the fulfillment of the substantive conditions.

Călin Georgescu, George Simion and Anamaria Gavrilă - the president of the POT, as well as their supporters, claim that the substantive conditions were also met, as provided for in the Romanian Constitution, which is also recorded in Article 28 of Law 370/2004, which stipulates: "Persons who, at the date of filing their candidacy, do not meet the conditions provided for in Article 37 of the Romanian Constitution, as republished, to be elected or who have previously been elected twice as President of Romania may not run for office."

Article 37 of the Constitution states: "Citizens with the right to vote who meet the conditions provided for in Article 16 paragraph (3) have the right to be elected, unless they are prohibited from associating in political parties, according to Article 40 paragraph (3). Candidates must be at least 23 years old, by election day inclusive, to be elected to the Chamber of Deputies or to local public administration bodies, at least 33 years old to be elected to the Senate, and at least 35 years old to be elected to the position of President of Romania".

And Article 16, paragraph 3, establishes: "Public functions and dignities, civil or military, may be held, under the terms of the law, by persons who have Romanian citizenship and domicile in the country. The Romanian State guarantees equal opportunities between women and men for the holding of these functions and dignities".

In other words, according to Călin Georgescu and the presidents of AUR and POT, the substantive conditions are the above, and, in their opinion, they were met by the candidate in the presidential elections. However, the BEC decision also specifies a substantive condition: "persons running for the presidential elections in Romania must meet the conditions "resulting from the sacrosanct formula of the oath taken by the person elected to the position of President of Romania", namely to respect the Constitution and defend democracy".

These substantive conditions arise, according to the BEC, from the decisions of the CCR of October 5, 2024 - regarding the rejection of Diana Şoşoacă's candidacy - and of December 6, 2024 - regarding the annulment of the presidential elections. The BEC points out that these substantive conditions "must be met by the presidential candidate from the moment of his candidacy". The decision of the Central Electoral Bureau states that the decisions and rulings of the CCR are binding on everyone and have the force of law immediately after publication in the Official Gazette, being applicable for the future. Taking into account that the entire electoral process regarding the presidential elections has been resumed, the BEC considers that the respective conditions introduced in the motivation of the CCR decision regarding respect for the Constitution and the defense of democracy must be met by any candidate at the time of filing the file, or according to the decision, Călin Georgescu did not meet them.

It is certain that yesterday, after a meeting between Călin Georgescu with George Simion and Anamaria Gavrilă, the BEC decision was challenged at the Constitutional Court, which will analyze it and is expected to rule today. The three said that they do not have high hopes for the CCR decision, given the precedent of the cancellation of the elections on December 6, 2024, and sent a message of mobilization to their supporters for the next three days, without announcing what actions they are preparing. In any case, all three stated that any form of protest must be peaceful, without the violence recorded on Sunday evening and which, according to law enforcement agencies, resulted in the injury of 13 gendarmes and several material damages. It remains to be seen whether their supporters will protest peacefully, especially since George Simion has announced that he does not assume the organization of any protest because the dissatisfaction of some citizens has reached alarming levels.