Center-right politician Ciprian Ciucu will be Bucharest’s new mayor after defeating a far-right candidate in Sunday elections. Ciucu, the candidate of the center-right National Liberal Party and a close ally of Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, won roughly 36 percent of the vote. Ciucu defeated Anca Alexandrescu, a TV presenter backed by Romania’s largest far-right party (AUR), who finished second with about 22 percent. The Social Democratic Party’s candidate Daniel Băluță came third, despite being projected to win in many opinion polls. Ciucu’s victory could help ease the pressure on Bolojan, who has been trying to pass unpopular austerity measures — including higher taxes and cutting public sector jobs — to reduce a budget deficit that has reached 9 percent of GDP. Opposition parties have filed a no-confidence motion in Bolojan over plans to reform the pension system, which will take place on Dec. 15. “Beyond this victory, it’s probably a good thing that this coalition will continue. The government has promised reforms, and it’s time to implement them,” Ciucu said on Sunday. “From my political position, I will help ensure these reforms are carried out,” he added. Bucharest was previously led by independent liberal Nicușor Dan, who left the role to become Romanian president in May. Romania’s politics was thrown into chaos after an ultranationalist TikTok candidate came out of obscurity to win the first round of the presidential race in November 2024. The election was ultimately cancelled on suspicion of Russian interference, with a court ordering a do-over.

Former Romanian presidential candidate Călin Georgescu was indicted on Wednesday for endorsing fascist propaganda, according to a press release from a prosecution office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice. Prosecutors allege that between June 16, 2020 and May 16, 2025, Georgescu repeatedly endorsed fascist ideas through a series of interviews, online posts and public speeches. He is also accused of glorifying extremist historical figures such as Marshal Ion Antonescu — the leader of Romania’s World War II fascist government and a convicted war criminal — and Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the founder of Romania’s interwar Iron Guard, a fascist paramilitary group. If convicted, Georgescu faces between three months and three years in prison, or possibly longer due to the continuous nature of the alleged offenses. The case, filed with the Sector 1 Court in Bucharest, addresses only the charge of “legionary propaganda” related to Romania’s National Legionary State, which ruled the country for five months from 1940 to 1941. But Georgescu remains under investigation for other serious offenses including allegedly attempting to overthrow the constitutional order. A hard-line ultranationalist and a vocal opponent of the EU and NATO, Georgescu surged to prominence during Romania’s November 2024 presidential election in which he won 22.9 percent of the vote in the first round. The country’s Constitutional Court later annulled the results, citing credible evidence of foreign interference — including alleged Russian-backed influence operations and a coordinated disinformation campaign on TikTok. The election was subsequently rescheduled for May but Georgescu was barred from running again and announced he was stepping away from politics.

Mark Gitenstein (ret, 2009-2012), Adrian Zuckerman (ret, 2019-2021) and Jim Rosapepe (ret, 1998-2001) are all former U.S. ambassadors to Romania. We all know Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine with tanks in 2022. But many don’t know that in 2024, he invaded Romania — with tweets. In both cases he failed — for now. But Putin’s aggression is focused on the U.S. and all its allies. He’s spending millions of dollars, bombarding European voters with manipulative social media and disinformation campaigns on a mass scale. It’s a new type of warfare on democracy that eliminates the need to roll tanks into capitals. Putin’s constantly evolving playbook is the result of his failed military campaign to capture Kyiv and strangle Ukrainian democracy. He ran into Ukraine’s indominable resilience, and as a result, he began deploying a long-standing Russian (and Soviet) strategy to destroy Western democracies from within by supporting and cultivating pro-Putin political candidates. And TikTok, Telegram and other social media channels are now weapons in this new kind of war. Never far from his KGB roots, the Russian president realizes public opinion can be manipulated and shaped by political proxies and propaganda beholden to Russia’s strongman. One only need examine Romania’s recent election to confirm this sinister truth. Back in 2024, Putin spent millions to elect a pro-Russian president in Romania. His method: infiltrate elections, support authoritarian-leaning candidates and manipulate digital platforms to bend public perception. So, the Russian leader boosted candidate Călin Georgescu from obscurity, and in just two weeks, Georgescu had captured 21 percent of the vote, leaving a divided field of 15 candidates stunned. Violating common sense, reality, as well as Romanian law, Georgescu claimed he neither raised campaign contributions nor incurred campaign expenses. Instead, he had a malevolent benefactor in Putin. The social media blitzkrieg consisted of “misinformation” and a multimillion dollar Leninist-style effort to destroy democracy in Romania. The effort’s design also included undermining U.S., NATO and EU security interests. And it was just in time that this stealth invasion of Romania’s electoral process was uncovered by Romanian and other Western intelligence services. Citing serious violations of electoral law and foreign interference, the country’s constitutional court annulled the first round of the election and ordered a do-over. When the second round was held, voter turnout surged past the average 51 percent to nearly 65 percent, as Romanians responded to the crisis with clarity and courage. They rejected Putin’s candidate and chose the democratic, pro-NATO path by a decisive 54 percent to 46 percent margin. Together with a bipartisan group of seven former U.S. ambassadors to Romania, we had publicly urged Romanians to reject Putin’s candidate. We couldn’t silently stand by and allow the patently false Russia-driven propaganda to go unchallenged. “We saw first-hand Romania’s successful climb from Russian imposed dictatorship to freedom, and integration with the rest of Europe in the EU and alliance with the U.S. through NATO,” we wrote in an open letter. While Putin’s efforts in Romania eventually miserably failed, but real damage could have been done. | Daniel Mihailescu/AFP via Getty Images We recognized the opportunity to accurately frame the historic choice Romanians were going to have to make at the polls, and we made the stakes clear: “Under Putin, Russia is again on the march. First invading Ukraine. Will Romania be its next target as it was Stalin’s? . . . Romanians face a clear historic choice: domination by Russia or your own future allied with America in NATO.” While Putin’s efforts in Romania eventually miserably failed, but real damage could have been done. Fortunately, the country’s democratic institutions and voices refused to be cowed by his latest tactics. And we now encourage others to raise their voices to counter Putin’s attempts to decapitate democracy at the ballot box. Romanians rightly took responsibility for their own future — and they chose freedom and prosperity over Putinism. After Nicusor Dan’s victory in the presidential race, U.S. President Donald Trump reassured Romanians that he would “strengthen our ties with Romania, support our military partnership, and promote and defend America’s economic and security interests abroad.” Unfortunately, too many people who should know better are still cozying up to Putin, backing his pro-Russian candidates and undermining the security of the U.S. and other democratic allies. Elon Musk protégé Mario Nawfal was in Moscow in May, while tech billionaire Elon Musk’s father and controversial American right-wing commentators Jackson Hinkle and Alex Jones attended the Future 2050 forum in Moscow in June. Speaking at the forum were numerous Putin allies: right-wing Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and former president Dmitry Medvedev. The Romanian battle was won, but Putin’s war on democracy continues. Who’s next on his list? This fall’s elections in Moldova, Estonia, Georgia, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and other European nations are all ripe for interference. But before his propaganda can take hold, it’s imperative to crack down on his violations of election laws. The fight for democracy now extends to cyberspace, where Putin’s invasion tactics must be thwarted, just as they’ve been on the battlefield. The new battlefield is online, and the stakes are democratic sovereignty. The lesson from Romania is clear: The best defense against propaganda is truth — and the courage to speak it.

Romanian President Nicușor Dan nominated Ilie Bolojan, a center-right National Liberal Party politician who served as acting president until Romania elected Dan to the role a month ago, for the prime ministerial post. His nomination on Friday comes after more than a month of political deadlock. Bolojan now has to form a government and receive approval from the parliament. All four pro-European parties in the parliament are expected to join the government, with the prime ministerial post possibly rotating to the Social Democratic Party in 2027. The center-right Union Save Romania and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania will also join the coalition.  Former Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu resigned May 5 and his Social Democratic Party withdrew from the government after a presidential candidate backed by the mainstream coalition failed to qualify for the second round of the presidential election. Dan, who ran as a centrist independent, subsequently beat hard-right nationalist George Simion in a nail-biter vote to keep Romania on its pro-Brussels, pro-NATO path. Right-wing parties had previously surged in last December’s parliamentary election, forcing pro-Western parties to look past their disagreements and form a fragile government. After winning the presidency on May 18, Dan pledged to help four pro-European parties form a new governing coalition. He later held several rounds of talks with party leaders and helped broker their agreement. Dan’s victory and the establishment of a pro-Western government now appear to offer a path to political stability for Romania. The new government will have to tackle Romania’s crippling budget deficit, running at over 9 percent of gross domestic product in 2024. The European Commission recently reprimanded the country for breaking EU limits on government spending. Addressing the deficit may prove difficult, however. The governing parties and the president are leery of taking unpopular steps, such as hiking taxes. “I hope we will reach to the tax side as little as possible,” Dan said recently. Prime Minister-designate Bolojan, who is “known for his technocratic efficiency and willingness to make difficult decisions,” will need to manage a politically diverse coalition while also implementing unpopular fiscal measures, wrote analysts at The Smartlink, a Romanian strategy consultancy, putting his leadership to the test. “Bolojan is the most suitable person” to address the budget deficit, Dan said when nominating the prime minister. “He is a person who, through the positions he has held, has proven that he knows how to reduce and streamline spending … and will have a partner in me.” Bolojan said he will continue negotiations with the four parties to finalize the governing program. Carmen Paun contributed to this report.

BRUSSELS — U.S. Republican lawmakers are reproaching the European Commission for taking a hands-off approach to Poland’s presidential election despite what the Americans say is a bias in favor of establishment centrist candidate Rafał Trzaskowski. Brian Mast, chair of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, wrote a letter, signed by other House members, to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to express “profound alarm over reported developments in Poland that may undermine the integrity of its democratic processes.” Poles are heading to the polls on Sunday for the second round of the country’s presidential election. Liberal Warsaw Mayor Trzaskowski, supported by the Civic Platform party of Prime Minster Donald Tusk, is facing off against Karol Nawrocki, the right-winger supported by the populist Law and Justice (PiS) party. The two are neck-and-neck in opinion polls and scrambling for any advantage. The letter from Mast is part of a broader interest by Republicans in supporting right-wing populists in Europe. Vice President JD Vance has met with the far-right Alternative for Germany party and lambasted Romanian courts for annulling the presidential election after Russia was accused of interfering with the campaign. Nawrocki recently visited Donald Trump in the Oval Office and reported back that the U.S. president told him: “You will win.” PiS’s MAGA ties were also evident, with the party hosting the U.S. conservative get-together CPAC on Tuesday. At the conference, Trump’s homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, called for Poles to elect Nawrocki. “Donald Trump is a strong leader for us, but you have an opportunity to have just as strong of a leader in Karol if you make him the leader of this country,” she said. Mast accused the Commission of having a “double standard” in election rules that could tilt the balance in favor of Trzaskowski. The first complaint is a May 15 Polish media report about a political advertising campaign favoring Trzaskowski by an NGO, which the report and Mast linked to operatives from the U.S. Democratic party. NASK, Poland’s state body tasked with countering online disinformation, reported that paid Facebook campaigns, apparently funded from outside Poland, appear to have promoted Trzaskowski while discrediting Nawrocki and far-right candidate Sławomir Mentzen. The letter from Brian Mast is part of a broader interest by Republicans in supporting right-wing populists in Europe. | Shawn Thew/EFE via EPA “NASK said its analyses could not conclusively determine the source of the funding for the Facebook campaign or who commissioned it. Analysts did not rule out the possibility of provocation and stated that resolving the case requires action by the country’s security services,” the Digital Affairs Ministry told POLITICO in an emailed response. The case was reported to the Internal Security Agency and the National Electoral Office while Meta was asked to remove the ads, the ministry said. Meta claimed the ads’ runtime had expired by the time the issue was made public and they were not accessible anymore. When Nawrocki raised the issue during a recent debate — accusing Trzaskowski of getting money from Germany and liberal financier George Soros — Trzaskowski denied any improper financing and threatened Nawrocki with a lawsuit. PiS has filed a complaint over the financing issue to the prosecutor’s office. Separately, Mast pointed to “reports of the Tusk government’s monthslong refusal to release tens of millions of dollars in public campaign funding that PiS is legally entitled to receive.” That’s a reference to a fight about PiS’s campaign funds. The party had its funding cut after the country’s electoral commission found improper spending during the 2023 parliamentary election campaign. The ruling has made it harder for PiS to finance Nawrocki’s campaign. That ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court, but the verdict came from a part of the court that the government, the electoral commission and the Court of Justice of the EU see as being illegitimate because its judges were improperly appointed when PiS was in power. The U.S. Republicans denounced the finance freeze in their letter, pointing to earlier decisions by the Commission to halt financing for Poland under the previous PiS government. Those decisions were related to Poland’s violations of rule of law and backsliding on the EU’s democratic principles when the party was in power from 2015 to 2023. “Despite the European Commission’s vocal criticism and decision to withhold over $150 billion from Poland for alleged rule of law violations under the previous PiS government, it has remained conspicuously silent despite clear evident of rule of law violations under Tusk’s administration,” the letter read. Such “selective enforcement … suggests a double standard that could undermine the EU’s credibility as a guardian of democratic principles,” it continued. A European Commission spokesperson said that the EU’s executive “does not address electoral processes,” which is a matter for national authorities. It does, however, stand for “free and fair elections,” through existing and new instruments, such as the EU’s content moderation rulebook and the upcoming Democracy Shield. The Commission also said it was engaging closely with Polish authorities on their actions to restore rule of law. Wojciech Kość reported from Warsaw.

BUCHAREST — Romania’s election winner Nicușor Dan will be sworn in as the country’s president on Monday and will immediately face a juggling act from hell as he grapples with serious economic trouble and a legacy of political strife. After defying the odds to beat hard-right radical George Simion in the May 18 second-round vote for the presidency, independent Bucharest mayor Dan will start work on forming a new government with talks among the pro-European political parties in Romania’s parliament. That process, and the appointment a new prime minister, could take several weeks. Once it is finalized Dan’s new government will have a seriously painful inbox to tackle. Here, POLITICO breaks down his biggest headaches:  FORMING A STABLE GOVERNMENT  Dan has said he’ll work with the pro-European parties in the parliament, although the largest among them — the Social Democratic Party (PSD) — is weighing whether it would rather play an opposition role. Dan wants to make respected interim President Ilie Bolojan his prime minister, and to frame his priority as cutting the government’s budget deficit to 7.5 percent of GDP.  If the PSD declines to join a ruling coalition, those goals may need to be pursued via a minority government, which would make the new administration inherently less stable and a riskier prospect for nervous investors. “Romania risks a sovereign rating downgrade, is under [an] EU excessive deficit procedure, and faces serious market trust issues,” said Elena Calistru, co-founder and president of Funky Citizens, a civic NGO in Bucharest. “Dan must use his newly acquired political capital to facilitate difficult fiscal reforms through a coherent economic team.” That means nominating a prime minister who can command a parliamentary majority focused on fiscal reforms. “Romania desperately needs to send strong signals to both markets and the European Commission that it is ready to implement serious fiscal discipline measures,” Calistru added.   LEADING ROMANIA IN EUROPE  With a population of 19 million, a massive NATO presence — including what will soon be the Alliance’s largest European base — and a critical strategic position on the Black Sea bordering Ukraine, Romania ought to be a vital partner for Western interests, especially in Brussels.  Dan told POLITICO he wanted to play a more “active” role in EU affairs, including negotiating the bloc’s seven-year budget. Unlike his political opponents, he strongly backs continuing aid to Ukraine and strengthening the EU’s autonomous defense capabilities, at a time when Donald Trump’s United States is threatening to step back.  “Dan’s analytical approach could prove valuable in these complex negotiations at a time when eastern Europe is becoming increasingly central to European security architecture,” said Calistru. “This is also an opportunity to rebuild Romania’s credibility in Brussels after years of fiscal slippage.” Otilia Nuțu, a public policy analyst at Bucharest-based think tank Expert Forum, said it was time for Romania to have “a stronger voice” in Brussels. “Romania is a large EU member state, and we should be playing a much more active role than we have so far.” Nuțu added: “We don’t know how long we can count on U.S. support, and it’s crucial that we become a voice pushing for European unity. The president must clearly state that Ukraine’s victory in the war is an existential issue for us.”  Romania ought to be a vital partner for Western interests. | Bodgan Cristel/EPA That should include pushing for the confiscation of frozen Russian assets and their transfer to Ukraine to finance defense and reconstruction, Nuțu said. RESTORING FAITH IN DEMOCRACY Dan himself has said he wants to revive the nation’s faith in democracy, which was already weak and then suffered a disastrous blow after last year’s presidential election was canceled amid claims of foreign interference.  That task will include dealing with corruption at all levels, appointing robust new judges and prosecutors, and breaking the stranglehold of established political parties like the PSD and the National Liberal Party (PNL) on the way politics works.  Political parties in the country are seen as corrupt and self-serving, said Oana Popescu-Zamfir, a former government adviser in Romania and an expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “Politics in general is seen as something you do if you want to get rich or you want to gain influence; it’s not seen as a legitimate job or profession in many ways,” she said. “It’s an open question how Nicușor Dan is going to be able to work with the parties, but he has done it as mayor. What people are noting these days is his huge capacity to learn.”  Dan told POLITICO that there is “pressure from society” on “the old political class” to reform the way it operates after years of failure. “I think that they understood that they have to change something, some important things,” he said.

Welcome to Declassified, a weekly humor column. What an exciting weekend it’s been for Europe. Not only did the continent barely survive yet another glittery diplomatic summit complete with questionable voting patterns and Israel-related drama — aka the Eurovision song contest – but it also hosted another major event: Its very own political triathlon, with elections taking place in Romania, Poland and Portugal. Because if there’s one thing that unites all Europeans, it’s making not-so-subtle political statements with fog machines and off-key falsettos, and then voting on the potential downfall of democratic values in three of the 27 EU member states. That, and serving kant, of course. So, how did it go? Is humanity over yet? Are we in the good place or the bad place? (Definitely the bad place.) Maybe that’s too dramatic. After all, no good doomsday story ever started with a mathematician as the bad guy. He doesn’t sound like the ideal lead character who will save humanity, to be honest, but beggars can’t be choosers. In Romania, the centrist Mayor of Bucharest Nicușor Dan won a stunning victory over the hard-right candidate and Trumpian darling, George Simion. Dan is known for fighting corruption and being the type of person who thinks before he speaks, which feels slightly out of character for a politician. He’s a mathematician by training, making him the first nerd to ever win a popularity contest. His victory also made one of the Tate brothers sad, according to social media. Who knew that the manosphere alpha male influencer had such emotional depth? Unfortunately, things are not as clear-cut for the rest of the three-headed electoral hydra: Poland and Portugal seem to be left in voting limbo. The Poles will need to hit the polls again (eds: Is this a pun? Yes, we wrote it in even if it’s ap-pole-ingly unfunny) to choose between another centrist mayor, Rafał Trzaskowski, and populist right-wing historian-turned-politician, Karol Nawrocki. Nerds are not only popular among moderates, it seems. Portugal, in true southern European style, elected a fractured parliament with no clear majority to run the country. Maybe time for a fourth vote in four years? Whether we will get more votes — or more glitter — remains to be seen. But one thing we know for sure: The winner always takes it all. CAPTION COMPETITION “I promise you, Your Holiness, I won’t do to you what I did to your predecessor.” Can you do better? Email us at gpoloni@politico.eu or get in touch on X @POLITICOEurope. Last week, we gave you this photo: Thanks for all the entries. Here’s the best from our mailbag — there’s no prize except for the gift of laughter, which I think we can all agree is far more valuable than cash or booze. “Do you think VdL’s WhatsApp messages to God are subject to transparency measures too?” by Andrew Ephraim Hillman

Romania’s constitutional court threw out defeated far-right candidate George Simion’s challenge to the result of Sunday’s presidential election. Simion announced Tuesday he would contest the outcome, claiming foreign interference by France and Moldova and voter fraud had influenced the contest, without providing evidence. But his request to annul the result was unanimously rejected, the court said on Thursday, paving the way for the inauguration of winner, centrist Bucharest mayor Nicușor Dan. Simion denounced the ruling as a “coup” in a statement on social media and called on his supporters to “fight” in the coming days and weeks. Dan told local media “it was clear from the beginning to everyone” that Simion’s legal challenge was “completely artificial.” Romania’s presidential election last November was annulled by the constitutional court after concerns over Russian meddling and a TikTok campaign that the Romanian authorities said boosted far-right candidate Călin Georgescu. A do-over election was ordered, which saw Simion and Dan face off last Sunday and ultimately resulted in Dan’s victory.

FĂGĂRAŞ, Romania — It’s 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 18 — election day — and Nicușor Dan is trying to hold it together.  After months of campaigning in the country’s fraught presidential race, the independent mayor of Bucharest has just 12 hours left before he will learn his fate.  The morning air is cool in the yard outside School Number 4 in Făgăraș, Dan’s Transylvanian hometown. The sun breaks through, picking out streaks of snow on the tops of the mountains in the distance.  Today, the school Dan attended as a young boy is being used as a polling station, and he has chosen to come here with his long-term partner Mirabela Grădinaru to vote. At one point, the emotion of returning home and seeing his old neighbors and teachers threatens to overwhelm him.  “I was forcing myself not to,” Dan tells POLITICO afterward, laughing, as he mimes tears rolling down his face. “It was very emotional.” Wearing a plain dark suit, white shirt and navy tie, he grips Grădinaru by the hand as they meet familiar faces and old friends on the playground. Several receive hugs.  Dan, 55, was born in the house next door to the school, a low-rise building painted apricot pink, with vines hanging over the garden to the side. His parents lived in the town for most of their lives, and Dan returned here for several months during the pandemic before winning his first term as mayor of Bucharest later in 2020. With voting underway, POLITICO was granted exclusive access to Dan as he spent time with his family and closest aides away from the TV cameras on election day. These would be the last hours of calm before his life would be transformed forever. When the results rolled in on Sunday night, it became clear he had defied the odds and beaten the radical right-wing nationalist George Simion to take the presidency.  Dan’s victory was cheered in the halls of power across much of Europe, where many centrist politicians and officials had feared Simion would derail their mainstream agenda. DESPERATE DAN While the opinion polls had started to tighten in the final week of the campaign, the 38-year-old Simion had been favored to win the run-off after winning the first round with 41 percent of the vote to Dan’s 21 percent.  “After the first round, the people for our side felt a little bit desperate,” Dan says, seated at the Bistro Story Caffe in the center of Făgăraș, with his partner and family at the next table. “Mr. Simion made a lot of mistakes,” he adds, chief among them refusing to show up for television debates.  Dan and Simion debated each other directly only once — a three-hour affair that observers agreed benefited the mayor. While Simion spent much of the time attacking his opponent loudly and aggressively, Dan remained calm, delivering methodical responses and refusing to be drawn into a slanging match.  George Simion spent much of the time attacking his opponent loudly and aggressively. | Robert Ghement/EPA And that is very much his style: even-tempered, technical, intellectual, and showing little interest in game-playing or political theater. By background, Dan is a gifted mathematician, twice winning the International Mathematical Olympiad as a young man, and he has previously said he’d return to academia if he were to leave politics.  His otherworldliness can clearly be disconcerting for opponents who prefer a political street-fight to intellectual analysis. In the final days of the campaign, Simion caused an uproar by calling Dan “autistic.” ENGLISH BREAKFAST Unlike many thrusting and ambitious leaders, Dan does not have a punishing workout routine to brag about. Instead he stays trim by skipping evening meals. By the time he makes it to the restaurant, he’s ready for his “English breakfast” of eggs, bacon, sausages, beans and toast.  Despite the obvious election day nerves, Dan’s team is optimistic. During the interview, news filters through suggesting that voting is going his way. It’s still early and a lot can change. But Dan’s 9-year-old daughter has been checking Polymarket every day — and his odds keep getting better.  Yet the campaign contained dark moments. Dan was the subject of abuse and criticism for his personal life choices in a traditionally religious and socially conservative country. He refers to his long-term partner Grădinaru as his “wife,” but they are not legally married. At one point his critics said he was “some kind of satanist” because they had not baptized their children, he says.  “For City Hall I had four campaigns. I have always been attacked of course but never my family, and never my wife,” he says. “It was the first time that she was attacked. It was quite difficult for her.” Dan decided to run for the presidency last December as Romania collapsed into a constitutional crisis over an aborted first attempt to hold presidential elections. State authorities suspected a vast foreign interference campaign had helped catapult a previously little-known, Moscow-sympathizing ultranationalist into first place in the first round in November.  Shortly before last year’s scheduled second round, Romania’s Constitutional Court ruled that the questions over the campaign of the candidate, Călin Georgescu, were so grave that the entire election had to be canceled and run again in May. Georgescu was prevented from taking part but Simion embraced him, attracting a huge following and promising if he won to make Georgescu prime minister.   BROKEN TRUST Dan says the trust of Romanians in politics has been severely damaged. He has a plan to restore it by addressing the widespread cynicism about the canceled election (many voters believe it was just the old deep state in action, exposing democracy as a sham).  He intends to begin by releasing more documents about what happened so the public can see the evidence for themselves. “The Romanian state didn’t explain enough why the election had been canceled,” he says. Then there are personnel changes he can make: appointing a new ombudsman, adding new judges to the Constitutional Court, and appointing new chief prosecutors with a remit to tackle corruption.  He also plans to overhaul the inspectorate of the judicial system, which is supposed to regulate the activities of judges and prosecutors. “It doesn’t work,” Dan says. “It doesn’t make proper evaluation[s]” and is inconsistent. The way magistrates are appointed and promoted is also in dire need of an overhaul. “The criteria are more personal than objective,” Dan notes. “But the main answer to your question is it will take time to regain the trust of the people,” he says.  Nicusor Dan says he would “strongly” support the greater integration of EU defense. | Bogdan Cristel/EPA Corruption in Romania has been a problem for decades and remains stubborn at the local level, inside the bureaucracy and also at the top of business and politics. But previous efforts at tackling corruption have faltered, Dan says, including one under Traian Băsescu’s 2004-2014 presidency, when there were “many excesses” such as suspects being outed as corrupt before they had even been prosecuted in court. Dan promises to nominate a new chief prosecutor within his first year in office. “That will be a big moment,” he says, “to nominate a prosecutor that will work systematically on the big corruption points, which are: tax evasion, real estate, deforestation and [the] network of drug dealers.” FOREIGN RELIEF  For much of the past five months, Dan’s pugnacious opponent Simion seemed likely to ride a wave of popular anger at “the system” into Cotroceni Palace. Simion threatened a Romanian MAGA revolution — channeling the election slogan of U.S. President Donald Trump — and vowed to stand up to Brussels, cut off aid to Ukraine and punish his critics in the media and elsewhere.  While aligning himself with Trump and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Simion signaled his anti-establishment credentials by accusing French President Emmanuel Macron of having “dictatorial tendencies.” Macron then spoke to Dan by phone in a call arranged through Romania’s former prime minister, Dacian Cioloș, who knows both men.  Macron “was extremely friendly with me, and also concerned because it’s not just a Romanian question,” Dan says. Macron told Dan he was worried that Simion would block aid to Moldova and Ukraine and hold up efforts to rearm Europe.  Dan says he would “strongly” support the greater integration of EU defense. “I want to maintain the partnership with the United States. But supporting the European effort to strengthen European security to inter-operationalize the structure of the European countries [and their militaries] and of course increasing [defense expenditures].”  WATCH OUT BRUSSELS Dan says Romania has not been “active enough” in Brussels in recent years. Ahead of EU budget negotiations he has pledged to be more energetic in “promoting the Romanian interest, which would be in the near future the negotiation of the Multiannual Financial Framework [and] the Common Agriculture [Policy].” Expanding the EU to the Balkans and supporting Moldova’s “European direction” would also be key policies, he adds.  What about sending Romanian troops to Ukraine as part of any future peacekeeping force?  “First, to have a big operational support on Romanian territory, yes. To be part of the armies guaranteeing peace in Ukraine, no. I think it would not be very appropriate because of the tension that already exists between Romania and Russia.”  Dan has been critical of Trump’s approach to seeking a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose unrealistic demands do not augur well for the prospects of peace. Dan emphasizes again that when it comes to a settlement, “anything on Ukraine has to be decided and agreed by the Ukrainians themselves.” He adds: “I’m not very optimistic that we will have peace very soon and I’m also glad that Europeans together decided to continue to support Ukraine until they obtain the most reasonable peace for themselves.”  NO PALACE, THANKS During the interview he breaks off to chat and laugh with his daughter, who wanders off to play with an antique telephone on a nearby side table. Later, his 3-year-old son bursts in and Dan is instantly delighted, abandoning his answer mid-sentence to lift his boy up and tip him onto his back to be tickled. “I missed the contact with them a lot,” Dan says.  Dan had just won reelection as mayor of the capital when the Georgescu election crisis blew up last year. “The first question my daughter asked me in December was: ‘What will people think about you? You just earned City Hall of Bucharest and you want now to earn more!’” George Simion threatened a Romanian MAGA revolution — channeling the election slogan of U.S. President Donald Trump. | Allison Dinner/EPA “I tried to explain [to] her that it’s something important, that in Romania the people do not trust politicians and we need someone that has some trust … and she understood. From that moment every morning when she wakes up she looks to Polymarket. She said that she would prefer that I would be a mathematician at the institute to have more time with her, but as she understood that I liked to be president she would support me.”  The family lives in what Dan describes as a quiet neighborhood of residential streets, where children play outside with their friends. He regularly walks his daughter to school and doesn’t want normal life to change. Security considerations may force them to move, but if he can he intends to remain living in the same area of Bucharest. “I want [them to] have a normal, proper house, not a palace, because for their minds it could be dangerous,” he says. “If it’s possible to stay in the same neighborhood it would be perfect.”  A SPLIT COUNTRY For all Dan’s unflappable calm, the country he leads is far from settled or stable. Its economy is struggling under the strain of high inflation, while the government needs to bring debt under control. Politically, too, tensions remain.  While voting was underway, Simion began stoking the narrative that the contest had not been fair. He claimed there was a risk that some 1.8 million dead people had been included in the electoral register and could rise from the grave to vote.  Then the Russian founder of social media platform Telegram claimed in a message to all users in Romania that France had tried to censor “conservative” voices in the country, a move officials denounced as Russian interference and fake news.  Is Dan worried about a backlash from Simion, Georgescu or their far-right extremist supporters? After all, charges have been brought in connection with an attempted insurrection plot after last year’s canceled election.  “Yes, but I’m not very worried about protests and so on, violent protests … I think that they will continue to think that I am part of the system that [I] in some sense stole their hopes and their future, but I don’t think there will be many manifestations of protest,” he says. “It is a very safe country.”  Dan’s aides feel sure enough that he is on their side, at the end of a long campaign, to make jokes at his expense. “Nicușor trusts people a lot. He thinks Romanian people are so good and kind. I do not agree at all!” says one of the possibility of a Simion-inspired backlash. “He is like a child,” another aide says at one point, pretending to scold her boss, who laughs.  Dan clearly inspires deep loyalty and affection from his team — one member of his entourage says simply: “I love him.” BACK IN BUCHAREST   The next time Dan appears in public, he is back in the capital. A thunderstorm drenches the city in the early evening, leaving the streets glistening. With dusk falling, at 8:53 p.m. the candidate is bundled through a noisy crowd and onto a podium in a park a few yards from his campaign headquarters, and just across the street from City Hall, where he goes to work every day as mayor.  Dan waits, along with more than 2,000 of his supporters packed into the tight outdoor space, for the exit polls due at 9 p.m. The first arrives early at 8:58 and predicts he will win with 55 percent to Simion’s 45 percent. The crowd screams with joy, chanting: “Nicușor! Nicușor!”  Nicusor Dan says the trust of Romanians in politics has been severely damaged. | Robert Ghement/EPA Dan smiles his broad smile and says a few words in his soft, light voice, urging everyone to wait for the final results, before being bundled out again by a phalanx of protective police who force their way through the throng.  Simion initially refuses to concede and declares himself the winner. But the margin of votes in Dan’s favor eventually pushes even this punchy politician to admit he is beaten, which he finally does around 1 a.m. In the streets, the crowd has swelled in size, music is playing and groups are dancing in celebration. Inside Dan’s campaign headquarters, aides and officials embrace. There are bottles of Champagne and pizza boxes in one of the private rooms upstairs set aside for the night, but Dan won’t touch them. Instead, he tells journalists packed into a press huddle that he intends to celebrate by catching some sleep. 

Romanian far-right leader George Simion announced Tuesday he will contest his defeat in last Sunday’s presidential election. Centrist Bucharest Mayor Nicușor Dan won the second round of the vote, which was rerun after a first election last November was annulled over concerns about Russian interference. “We will contest the election at the Constitutional Court for the same reasons they annulled the elections in December,” Simion said. This story is being updated. Carmen Paun contributed reporting.