The man who annexed the snacks. Jorge Simion is waiting for Romania to fall into his hands

George Simion, leader of the Romanian far-right AUR party, at a press conference for foreign media at the party's headquarters in Bucharest

Photo by DANIEL MIHAILESCU / AFP

By the end of June, Romania was left without a working government: parliament this week rejected another candidate for prime minister. President Nikušor Dan was faced with a choice between the seemingly impossible reassembly of the pro-European coalition and early elections. One person benefits from this paralysis of power - Djordje Simion, the leader of the far-right AUR, who lost the presidential race to Dan in May 2025. Roman Perl* presented a portrait of a politician who in Chisinau and Kyiv is called pro-Russian, and in Washington they consider him his cudgel against the European Union.

This scene was recorded by a British Spectator correspondent in the spring of 2025 in the basement of a Lebanese restaurant in the center of Bucharest. The leader of the Romanian far right had just won the first round of the presidential election and was hosting guests. He waved his hand around the Middle Eastern appetizers laid out on the table and announced, “This is Romanian. Like the American Gulf. I will sign the decree and declare it Romanian.” The audience laughed, and Simion too. He was joking. More likely.

But this is not just a joke. Simion does not invent anything new, but he is resourceful in using what is already ripe. First there was the energy of the football stands, then the resentment of the Romanian hinterland against those in the capital, and now the manner and habits of Donald Trump, right down to the red cap in which he is regularly seen in public. In general, nothing special, but the person who mastered this technique turned out to be perhaps the most interesting character in Eastern European politics this season.

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