Brussels – The amount of\u00a0controversy triggered by Donald Trump’s administration seems to be unstoppably growing, reaching\u00a0the Balkans, from where the Romanian education minister responds to the US vice president’s attacks on the state of democracy in the European country.<\/p>\n
The story began on Friday (Feb. 14) at the Munich security conference, when JD Vance<\/strong> openly criticized<\/strong> the Romanian Constitutional Court’s decision to annul the Dec. 21<\/strong> presidential elections<\/strong>, which pro-Russian and ultranationalist candidate C\u0103lin Georgescu <\/strong>overwhelmingly won. The vote was invalidated based on\u00a0alleged “uncertain suspicions and tremendous pressure from neighbors<\/strong>,” Vance said, referring to the provisions of President Klaus Iohannis,<\/strong> who\u00a0demanded the\u00a0declassification of intelligence\u00a0documents<\/a> indicating a Russian interference in the Romanian electoral process<\/strong>, as suggested by the enormous visibility Georgescu\u00a0enjoyed on TikTok. Even the European Commission\u00a0questioned the attitude of the\u00a0Chinese social media,\u00a0accused of not putting adequate instruments<\/a> in place to limit malicious interference<\/strong> in the elections.<\/p>\n “Now, as I understand it, the argument was that Russian disinformation had infected the Romanian elections, but I\u2019d ask my European friends to have some perspective,” the vice president had said. “You can believe it\u2019s wrong for Russia to buy social media advertisements to influence your elections. We certainly do.\u00a0 But if your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn\u2019t very strong to begin with.<\/strong>”<\/p>\n Last night<\/strong> (Feb. 19),\u00a0Romanian Minister of Education and Research Daniel David, in<\/strong>\u00a0his blog<\/a>,\u00a0rejected\u00a0Vance’s allegations<\/strong>, saying he is “convinced that the elections were influenced<\/strong>.” The minister, who received academic training in the US, emphasized how, from a US perspective, things may seem as Vance says,\u00a0but “in the case of our country, a still young democracy, what is little (frail) for a strong democracy like the USA can become much (dangerous) for us!<\/strong>” he said. “And the European Union, which is closer and understands the situation of the country better, was on the same line as our country,” he added.<\/p>\n Vance’s criticisms<\/strong>\u00a0of\u00a0the democratic nature of the Balkan country<\/strong> came just days after\u00a0Iohannis resigned<\/a>\u00a0(Feb. 10) after the far-right parties<\/strong> activated – following\u00a0two failed\u00a0attempts —\u00a0the parliamentary procedure to suspend the head of state.<\/strong><\/p>\n “The threat<\/a> that I worry the most about vis-\u00e0-vis Europe is not Russia,<\/strong> it\u2019s not China, it\u2019s not any other external actor. And what I worry about is the threat from within,<\/strong>” the vice president said in front of European leaders in Munich. Referring to the annulment\u00a0of elections<\/strong>, he also warned that “the very same thing could happen in Germany, too<\/strong>.” Strong statements say a lot about JD Vance, who had no problem calling as irregular the elections that had given candidate Donald Trump defeat in 2020 or hailing the pressure put on Georgia’s pollsters in 2024, and who now more than ever reminds Europe how the real enemy of the continent’s security is not Putin, but the woke virus<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Also having his say on the Romanian electoral process was Elon Musk<\/strong> who, on Tuesday, Feb. 18, wrote<\/a> on his social network X: “Romania deserves its own sovereignty!<\/strong>” echoing a post on the Inevitable West page that wrote: “BREAKING: C\u0103lin Georgescu<\/strong> announces that on his first day as president, he will ban the entire Soros network in Romania.” The post has already garnered more than 9 million views and directly quotes the words of the ultranationalist candidate who won in the first round of the annulled Dec. 2024 elections.<\/p>\n Romania deserves its own sovereignty! https:\/\/t.co\/CtRnABP2yO<\/a><\/p>\n\n