Presidential candidate Calin Georgescu attends a televised debate in Bucharest, Romania, November 13, 2024. Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. ROMANIA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN ROMANIA
BUCHAREST/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Calin Georgescu, who has stunned Romania and its European allies by leading the first round of the eastern European country's presidential election, is a far-right, self-styled outsider critical of NATO and of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Georgescu led the first round of voting with 22.9%, ahead of opposition centre-right candidate Elena Lasconi with 19.2%, and will thus compete in the run-off on Dec. 8.
Should he win, Georgescu would head the country's armed forces, chair the supreme defence council that decides on military aid, appoint the prime minister, chief judges, prosecutors and secret service heads.
He would also share control of defence spending with the government and represent Romania at NATO and EU summits.
Georgescu is challenging Romania's pro-Ukraine position, emphasising engaging with, rather than challenging, Russia.
"Security comes from dialogue, not confrontation, when you are elegant and civilized," he told Romanian private broadcaster Digi24 this month. "Do you think Zelenskiy is an elegant guy, a patriot?"
"There is no reason for us to talk about war all the time, we must be concerned with peace, without peace we can't build anything."
Until now, Romania has staunchly supported Ukraine, allowing its neighbour to use the Romanian port of Constanta on the Black Sea to export its grain.
"Romania is an absolutely key player in terms of security and defence in Europe and for the support of Ukraine," said Oana Lungescu, a Romanian-born former NATO spokesperson and now a fellow at the Royal United Services Institute thinktank.
"Anything, any policy and any political actor that changes that risks having not just a major impact on Romania itself, on the course of Romania's security and democracy, but also for the security of Europe and of the Euro Atlantic area," she told Reuters.
A senior EU diplomat told Reuters it would be a "disaster" for the EU if Georgescu won the presidency, noting Romania's shared border with Ukraine and the fact it was one of the European bloc's larger countries.
'MARTYRS'
Also of concern to European allies is Georgescu describing as national heroes and "martyrs" Ion Antonescu, Romania's de facto World War Two leader, sentenced to death for his part in Romania's Holocaust, and Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, a pre-World War Two leader of the Iron Guard, one of Europe's most violent anti-Semitic movements.
The EU diplomat said Georgescu's views on the pair, as well as on NATO, would increase tensions both at home and abroad.
"Imagine the discussions in the (European) Council, imagine the polarisation he would bring at home," said the EU diplomat.
Akin to the election campaign of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Georgescu ran a campaign as an independent insurgent not beholden to centrist, incumbent parties that have had to struggle with inflation.
Inflation was down to 4.7% in October, compared with an annual rate of 13.8% in 2022, but it still remains the highest in central and eastern Europe.
The themes of Georgescu's campaign on TikTok and YouTube have focused on the importance of family values, tradition, the Christian Orthodox Church and connection to the earth.
Other videos emphasise his sporting abilities: the 62-year-old is a black belt in judo and he runs marathons.
But he was not always an outsider: he has held various government jobs at home, including as a senior civil servant in the ministries of environment and foreign affairs, while abroad, he has worked as a United Nations special rapporteur on the impact of toxic waste on human rights.
He was also a member of a political party: the hard-right opposition Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR), which once touted him as their choice for prime minister.
But he left AUR in 2022 after senior party members said his pro-Russian, anti-NATO stance damaged the party's image: In a 2021 interview, he called NATO's ballistic missile defence shield located in the Romanian town of Deveselu a "shame of diplomacy" and said the North Atlantic alliance will not protect any of its members should they be attacked by Russia.
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(Reporting by Luiza Ilie in Bucharest, Lily Bayer and Andrew Gray in Brussels, writing by Gwladys Fouche, Editing by William Maclean)
