00:00Welcome to the Europe Conversation.
00:10I have spoken with the first runner in the Romanian presidential elections, Giorgia Simeon.
00:15He says that if he will be president, Romania will cut the help for Ukraine.
00:21He also said that if he will be president, he will appoint as his prime minister, Kalin
00:27Giorgia Simeon, the person because of whom the former presidential elections in Romania
00:33were cancelled.
00:34Mr. Simeon, you are very close to the presidency now, and there is a crucial moment for Romania
00:43and for Europe.
00:45You've been labeled many times as anti-Ukrainian, pro-Russian, Euroceptic, let's clear this now,
00:54and please tell me how do you calibrate your message to Europe, to its leaders, and how
01:00do you label yourself?
01:01I am a young leader, I am 38 years old.
01:07I am a democrat.
01:09This is why I was opposing the annulment of the elections here in Romania.
01:15You cannot do this in an EU member state, just because you do not like who won.
01:22Now, I am a Eurorealist, I am one of the three vice presidents of ECR party, European Conservatives
01:31and Reformists, the party of Giorgia Meloni.
01:34Our president is Mateusz Morawiecki, the former law and justice prime minister in Poland.
01:40We want a Europe of nations, and I am the person who fought the most before entering the politics
01:50with Russian propaganda.
01:52Our problems with Ukraine is not about hatred, about opposing something.
01:58It's about Ukrainians that must respect international treaties and the right of national minorities.
02:05We have half a million of Romanian speakers in Ukraine, and they don't have the right to
02:14school and to church.
02:16This is why our position towards the Russian war is very clear.
02:22It's a Russian war against Ukraine, against all international treaties, and our hope and
02:32prayers go towards peaceful solution of the Trump administration in this region, because
02:43escalidating the conflict is not the answer.
02:47You've tackled a lot of themes.
02:49Let's take one by one.
02:51So, anti-Ukraine, yes or not?
02:53No.
02:54Pro-Russian?
02:55Absolutely not.
02:56Eurosceptic?
02:57Eurorealist.
02:58What does it mean?
03:01It means that we do not want a super federal state at a European level.
03:07We want a European Union that goes back to its founding fathers, to the origins, to the
03:13countries, than to Adenauer and the goal, as an economic space for the free circulation
03:20of persons and merchandise.
03:24And we want more prerogatives to the 27 member states, not to unelected EU bureaucrats.
03:32Then how will you work with Mrs. von der Leyen if you are elected?
03:37I saw how our leader, Giorgia Meloni, works with Ursula von der Leyen even if they do not
03:45share the same ideology and even if Ursula von der Leyen made harsh statements before Italian
03:51elections where Fratelli d'Italia won fair and square.
03:56We are winning this battle.
03:58All we are asking for is fair and free elections and we will respect all our commitments at EU
04:05and NATO level.
04:06Then why do you label them then unlegitimate bureaucrats?
04:10I said unelected bureaucrats because they are not voted by the people inside the European
04:19Union and there are many tentatives to change the EU treaties without going to the vote of
04:25the citizens.
04:26For me, democracy is very important.
04:29This is the key aspect of the current repeated Romanian presidential elections.
04:36So I would like to go back to the people and to respect the will of the people.
04:42You know, President Trump was winning the elections in the United States and the Supreme Court judges
04:52could have banned him like it happened in Romania, like it happens in Iran and in authoritarian regimes.
05:00Romania is NATO's crucial eastern flank ally and tell me if you will be president, if you
05:06will continue the same strategy and how will you keep Romania safe?
05:11For us, being a member of NATO is vital.
05:15We sacrificed a lot for being admitted to NATO.
05:22We invested a lot and we spent our defense spending are quite big.
05:30So we want to be, along with Poland and the Baltic states, the eastern flank of NATO and we want to invest more
05:40in our defense spending.
05:42We want NATO led by the United States.
05:47It's a time of massive geopolitical change in Eastern Europe and also all over the world and also in Europe.
05:55And now there are ongoing Trump-Putin negotiations.
05:59You have referred to that already.
06:01How will you work with Mr. Trump to Southgar Romania?
06:05We are the natural allies of the GOP in the United States.
06:10We are perfectly aligned ideologically with the MAGA movement.
06:16So as Giorgia Meloni does, we will work very well with the Trump administration.
06:23We have many friends.
06:24We know each other and we will collaborate and we will be serious partner for the US on the eastern flank of NATO.
06:32We have elections in May, on the 18th of May, both in Romania and Poland.
06:37And we hope to have two pro MAGA presidents, both in Bucharest and in Warsaw.
06:43And in Romania, interest for what is?
06:45To keep all three pillars of our security strategy.
06:50One member of the European Union, second member of NATO, the strongest military alliance in the history,
06:57and three, the strategic partnership with the US.
07:02Can you please elaborate a little more on this?
07:04Because Mr. Trump, after he took the presidency, he had a very offensive policy.
07:12And he ruled for the economic taxes.
07:18He excluded us from visa waiver.
07:21Why do you think it's more in Romania's interest than in USA's interest to work with Trump more than with the EU?
07:30We want to work with all our allies.
07:33But not on the same level.
07:35One does not exclude the other.
07:38Now, the tariff war is not intended towards the EU countries mainly.
07:45It's intended to stop the Chinese domination.
07:49This is a topic for us.
07:51We must produce more in our countries, in the US, in Romania, in Italy.
07:56So our idea at the ECR level, at European level, is to maintain the EU-US unity, the transatlantic unity, to maintain the free world as it is.
08:12Who will you work with in the European Council mostly?
08:16Who will be your allies?
08:18We have three prime ministers that are from European conservatives and reformists.
08:24The Belgian prime minister, the Czech prime minister Fiala, and Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister.
08:31What about Putin? Because we didn't speak about him at all.
08:34If you were president, would you go to Moscow for the 9th of May, or to Kiev with the other European leaders?
08:42I would go to Rome, I would go to Washington.
08:48We are interested, for now, in going to Kiev until the Ukrainians will respect the Romanian minority there, and it's excluded.
08:58It's off the table, totally, to go to a parade on the 9th of May in Moscow, celebrating the death of our grandfathers.
09:10Please tell me, if we are part of NATO, and if we will need, in the case that you are president, to further help Ukraine, what do you do?
09:24We do not have this decision at NATO level, and the leader, the most important country in NATO, wants to stop this war and to make peace.
09:37So, we will respect...
09:39Yes, but we don't know when the peace will be.
09:41We will respect our international partnerships, everything that we obliged for, everything we signed up with UN, with NATO, with the European Union.
09:53So, you will continue to help Ukraine?
09:56This is not an obligation, so far as I know, and I will not help Ukraine until Ukraine manages to respect the right of the Romanian living in the sovereign territory of Ukraine.
10:10So, if you are president, you're cutting this out?
10:12Yes, I said it numerous times. The solution is a ceasefire, and peace negotiations de-escalating the conflict, and we must follow the interests of the Romanian nation, not of other nations, that are not part of the European Union and of NATO, and NATO is a defensive alliance.
10:35You are banned in Ukraine and Moldova. Will you change the situation?
10:39Probably, after I will win on the 19th of May, these false interdictions will disappear, because it is in Chisinau and Kiev's interests to work with us.
10:53I want to work with them on several topics, and I want to have good neighbourhood relations.
11:02Please tell me, how will you impose Mr. Georgescu as the Prime Minister?
11:07I will not impose. I'm not a tyrannic totalitarian leader. I'm a democrat leader, so if the Romanian people will want Mr. Georgescu at the leadership, there are several constitutional ways. Referendum, snap election, a majority in the parliament. But we will see this after I'm in the presidential seat.
11:31Last question. Who will you phone first, if you are elected as the president of Romania?
11:38You mean, besides my wife and besides my mother, of course, from the international leaders, probably the secretary of state, Marco Rubio.
11:49Thank you very much, Mr. Simeone. Thank you.
11:56Thank you.
11:57Thank you.
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