IZVORANI, Romania (AP) — Sitting at his desk in an isolated compound north of Bucharest, presidential front-runner and far-right populist Calin Georgescu says Romania’s Western alliances remain secure providing they “serve the sovereignty of the country and nothing else.”

Georgescu unexpectedly topped the polls in the first round of the Romanian presidential vote on Nov. 24, despite being a huge outsider, plunging the European Union and NATO country into unprecedented turmoil. On Sunday, he will face reformist Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union party in a final vote.

“I am interested in us being a sovereign and self-sufficient power,” the 62-year-old independent candidate told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “Freedom and independence come from the ability to finance yourself, not from being financed by others.”

His vision for his country’s future lies in a series of Romania-first policies in a push to become self-reliant in areas such as energy, food, and water.

Other key issues he wants to address if he wins the presidency, he said, span tackling high poverty rates, organized crime, and drug use in schools. “Our children are dying from drug use,” he said. “It’s unimaginable.”

Georgescu is also a self-professed Donald Trump supporter and says the incoming U.S. president “knows what he wants, he loves his people, he put America first, just like I put Romania first ... we have the same ideology.”

His success has left Western allies on edge. In the past, Georgescu — who declared zero campaign spending — praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as “a man who loves his country” and called Ukraine “an invented state.” Still, he claims not to be pro-Russian.

He has also courted controversy for describing Romanian fascist and nationalist leaders from the 1930s and 1940s as national heroes. He denies having any connection to extremist organizations and says the quotes were miss represented.

“I am only for God and my country,” he said. “Period.”

Once a member of Romania’s far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, Georgescu left the party in 2022 after being accused by colleagues of being Russia-friendly and critical of NATO.

Romania has played a key role in the U.S.-led military alliance since Russia fully invaded neighboring Ukraine nearly three years ago. Observers wonder how a Georgescu presidency could affect NATO unity.

“NATO is a defensive organization, but as long as it remains defensive, everything is fine,” the presidential hopeful said. “We will evaluate and see what is to Romania’s advantage … Everything, no matter what, must benefit the Romanian people," referring to two NATO bases in Romania.

On the war in Ukraine, “it’s a very difficult and grave situation," he said. "And my main position is a strategy of peace. Peace with everyone, regardless of who they are.”

But Lasconi, his opponent in Sunday’s runoff, has cast Georgescu as a threat to democracy and national security who is not fit for high office.

“Let us be very clear, Calin Georgescu is an open admirer of Vladimir Putin. He is openly against NATO and the European Union,” she said a day after the first vote. “He is for Romania’s isolation, which he calls neutrality." She also added that "without NATO we are at the mercy of Russia.”

His past controversial remarks are wide-ranging and often veer in conspiracy, like his questioning of vaccine safety or calling climate change a “business scam,” or that “feminism is an absolute mess.”

Georgescu holds a doctorate in pedology, a branch of soil science, and held different positions in Romania’s environment ministry in the 1990s. Between 1999 and 2012, he was a representative for Romania on the national committee of the United Nations Environment Program.

But he remained a little-known entity until just weeks ago.

Many observers attributed his success to his TikTok account, which now has 5.8 million likes and 531,000 followers. But some experts suspect Georgescu’s online following was artificially inflated while Romania’s top security body alleged he was given preferential treatment by TikTok over other candidates.

Asked whether he believes the Chinese-owned platform TikTok can pose a threat to democracy, he said: “The most important existing function for promoting free speech and freedom of expression is social media.”

In his downtime, he says he enjoys listening to classical composers, such as 19th-century composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and is a big fan of the Irish singer Enya. He holds black belts in judo and karate and said he would make sports investment a top priority “because otherwise, you can’t have a healthy nation.”

Romania’s political class, he said, has “constantly shown an inferiority complex” toward the West and vowed to change the dynamic.

“Everything I do and will do will be from a negotiation standpoint, in the sense that Romania will stand tall and not on its knees,” he said.

News from © The Associated Press, 2024