Is Romanian antiglobalist politician Călin Georgescu a clean wheat?

This week, the arrest of presidential candidate Călin Georgescu has been in the news in Romania and abroad.

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Georgescu's arrest and the charges brought against him

Georgescu, widely described as “pro-Russian”, was the protagonist of the controversial annulment of the first round of Romania’s presidential election in December, a decision I criticized here, pointing out that it set a bad precedent and did Putin a favor. Georgescu was released on bail on the same day of his arrest and is accused of six crimes, including inciting actions against the constitutional order and false statements regarding sources of financing for electoral campaigns and asset declarations.

On Wednesday, Georgescu's arrest was criticised by Elon Musk, who stated: "They just arrested the person who won the most votes in the Romanian presidential election. This is messed up." On the same day, in searches carried out by the Romanian police, weapons, ammunition and large amounts of money were found hidden in the homes of people linked to Georgerscu.

His relationship with the mercenary Horațiu Potra

One of these people is the mercenary Horațiu Potra, a close associate of Georgescu who works as a contractor in African countries. Police found more than one million euros in a safe hidden in the floor of his house, as well as weapons and ammunition. Potra is not in Romania, having been abroad for several weeks. In December, Potra and 19 others were arrested as they headed to Bucharest carrying weapons. Romanian outlet Digi24 reported that the detainees had lists of politicians and journalists and were said to be preparing an intimidation operation.

On the same day that these arrests took place, Georgescu denied knowing Potra personally. However, two days later a photo was published of Georgescu shaking hands with Potra, which proved that the two knew each other personally. According to the Romanian media Libertatea.ro, Potra would be the head of Georgescu's bodyguards.

Georgescu declared that he paid nothing and spent nothing on his campaign

Of course, the accusations made by the Prosecutor's Office against Georgescu are still pending to be addressed by a court and the politician is innocent until proven guilty. However, he himself put himself in the crosshairs of the Justice, since in November he declared that he had not spent or paid anything on his campaign, being the only presidential candidate who declared that he had neither income nor electoral expenses. This was clearly unsustainable information and gave the Justice reason to open an investigation.

While waiting for the accusations against Georgescu to be proven true or not, I think it is necessary to point out a few things about this politician, who has received the support of so-called antiglobalist parties in other countries, in order to answer the question I pose in the title of this article. In 2022 I already warned here that so-called "antiglobalism" can be instrumentalized just as anti-communism and anti-fascism were, in order to lump together political discourses that in some cases are openly incompatible.

Georgescu worked for the United Nations and the Club of Rome

The case at hand is a good example of this. A curious fact is that Georgescu worked for the United Nations and was one of the leaders of the Club of Rome, an organisation that supported the protests of Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. It is a curious CV for a political leader who includes "antiglobalism" as one of the ingredients of his speeches.

His praise and support for Russian nationalist Aleksandr Dugin

On the other hand, in 2016, when he was still working for the UN, Russian state media outlet Sputnik nominated him as Romania’s "next prime minister". The article was a clear pro-Georgescu pamphlet, showing that Moscow had plans for him. This was no mere coincidence. In 2014, Georgescu praised Russian nationalist ideologue Aleksandr Dugin, a fanatic whose ideology mixes ingredients of fascism, communism and Russian nationalism and who has proposed "organizing murders" and "ending Catholicism". The Romanian politician did not stop there: Georgescu also organised a visit by Dugin to Romania, after the Russian nationalist claimed that Romania would soon be part of Russia. A curious idea of ​​patriotism.

His praise for Putin and his alignment with the Kremlin's theses

In 2018, in a televised interview, Georgescu praised Vladimir Putin, claiming that he is a leader who "loves his country". In 2024, in an interview published by British newspaper The Times, Georgescu again praised Putin, saying that he is a "patriot." In January 2025, Georgescu clearly aligned himself with the Kremlin's theses, stating that "Ukraine is an invented state".

His praise for the pro-Nazi dictator Ion Antonescu, who committed crimes of genocide

The first major step in Georgescu’s political career towards the presidency of the Romanian government took place in 2020, when a party that today belongs to the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), announced that it would propose him as an independent candidate for prime minister, as Georgescu was not a member of the party.

The candidacy was tarnished by Georgescu's statements on Facebook praising the pro-Nazi dictator Ion Antonescu, whom the candidate placed among "heroes" of whom he said that "national history lived, national history speaks and spoke through them, and not through lackeys of the globalist powers that today temporarily govern Romania." Let us remember that during the Second World War, Antonescu committed crimes of genocide, murdering hundreds of thousands of Jews and Ukrainians.

Georgescu's statements caused a scandal. In 2024, Georgescu was in favor of Israel in an attempt to make people forget that statement, because of which he is viewed with suspicion by the Jewish community. Jewish organisations believe that no action was taken against Georgescu at the time, even though Romanian laws are very strict regarding anti-Semitism, because hatred of Jews is still very present in the country today and perhaps the authorities considered that taking action against him for this would have been unpopular.

His words saying that “it is an honor for me to receive the support of criminals”

In December, the Romanian outlet Adevarul.ro reported that members of the underworld who publicly supported Georgescu had fled Romania, following the declassification of information submitted to the Constitutional Court to invalidate the first round of the presidential election. The fact that criminals have publicly supported Georgescu has been criticised in the country, but the "antiglobalist" candidate does not seem to have taken it badly.

On December 4, the Romanian media Realitatea.net, clearly in favor of this candidate, published this statement from Georgescu in a headline: "It is an honor for me to receive the support of criminals". The full statement was included in the text of the article: "Yes. I was accused of receiving support from ex-prisoners, criminals and gypsies. Sir, very well. Are they not human? Very well, I am honoured by this. We do not understand this, cooperation between people, we divide ourselves randomly." A curious message for a politician who is part of the "antiglobalist" movement, whose supporters place great emphasis on citizen insecurity.

In short, taking all this into account, I think that it is not too much to ask for a little prudence when supporting anyone who defines themselves as "antiglobalist", because in the end people with a discourse as full of contradictions and very questionable messages as Georgescu's can end up slipping under that label.

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Photo: AP Photo.