‘Shameful’ socialists attract EU lawmakers’ ire for not backing Romania’s centrist candidate

STRASBOURG — Europe’s socialists are coming under fire for not backing Romania’s centrist candidate in the presidential election — even with the far right on track to take power in Bucharest.

The Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSD) announced after the first round of the election it would not endorse centrist presidential candidate Nicușor Dan against far-right leader George Simion in the May 18 runoff, triggering a wave of criticism from mainstream lawmakers.

“I expect a clear commitment from socialist leaders, including in the European Parliament, to back him,” said the center-right European People’s Party leader, Manfred Weber, adding that the withholding of support is “unacceptable.” The Romanian party in the EPP, the National Liberals, has endorsed Dan, who is the mayor of Bucharest.

Socialists at the European level have spearheaded a campaign to keep far-right parties out of decision-making in Brussels’ institutions, routinely blaming the conservative EPP and Weber for voting alongside those parties on topics such as green policy and migration.

Now, their Romanian colleagues are putting the group’s credibility in doubt.

The leader of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group in the Parliament, Iratxe García, “cannot remain silent,” Weber said. “In the face of rising extremism across Europe, there is no room for political games.”

Simion, the hard-right leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), is on track to win the Romanian presidency on May 18 after pulling in a whopping 40 percent of the vote in last Sunday’s first round.

That result would place another Euroskeptic and Ukraine critic at the European Council leaders’ table, at a point when the European mainstream center is wobbling as the far right makes gains around the continent.

“S&D cannot keep silent about this anymore,” said Romanian MEP Dan Barna, from the centrist Renew Europe group that has also officially backed Dan. “Not endorsing Nicușor Dan is a shameful decision that goes against everything the S&D stands for in the European Parliament.”

Asked whether she would support Dan, García said: “We are aware that we are in [a] delicate situation in Romania. We are working together with PES [Party of European Socialists] and our Romanian colleagues.”

Some of García’s Romanian colleagues within the S&D have broken with their national party line back home and are criticizing the decision, such as Parliament Vice President Victor Negrescu. 

“For me, these elections go beyond the names of the candidates, it is about the choice you make for Romania and which side of history you want to be on,” he told POLITICO.