Anti-Hungarian presidential candidate Simion is supported by Orbán’s campaign team

Euronews reports that envoys from George Simion’s campaign, the far-right, openly anti-Hungarian Romanian presidential candidate, have been in contact with the Orbán government.

More and more surprising information is coming to light about the Orbán-Simion connection. As we have already reported, there is huge outrage among Hungarians, as Orbán believes Simion is worthy of support, while Hungarians in Transylvania (Erdély) voted against him.

Since then, all Hungarian churches in Transylvania have spoken out, asking their congregations to vote against Simion, but more and more local people are also speaking out against Orbán’s supporters. Many believe that Orbán has stabbed the Hungarian community in Transylvania in the back, just as he did with Fico in Slovakia and with Vucic’s alliance in Serbia with regard to the local Hungarian minority.

According to opinion polls, this Sunday’s (18 May) presidential election is still wide open, so the hard-line right-wing nationalist candidate is fighting for every vote. He has recalibrated his nationalist political platform, reached out to the Hungarian community and the RMDSZ, and insists that he is not Eurosceptic or pro-Russian.

Amidst a public “charm offensive” directed at Viktor Orbán and the Hungarian community in Romania, political sources in Budapest told Euronews that Simion’s campaign representatives have been in contact with the Orbán government ahead of Sunday’s decisive vote. Simion began courting Orbán in the interests of a future EU political alliance – for example, he said that in many respects, he would like to follow Orbán’s footsteps and that many of his positions would also become state policy in Romania – and he is confident that the government can exert strong influence on the Hungarian community in Romania.

The candidate also hopes for a broader Central and Eastern European alliance directly linked to President Donald Trump. Simion told Euronews last week, “We are the natural allies of the Republican Party in the United States. Ideologically, we are perfectly aligned with the MAGA movement. So, like Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, we will work very well with the Trump administration.”

Simion and the Trump administration

George Simion, the Romanian far-right nationalist and presidential candidate, has clearly and publicly declared his ideological and political commitment to Donald Trump and the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement. Several important points illustrate the links between Simion and the Trump administration:

Ideological stance: Simion openly supports Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, stating that his party, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), is “ideologically almost identical” to the Republican Party and MAGA. Simion supports Trump-style populism, emphasising nationalism, anti-establishment rhetoric, and conservative social values such as opposition to same-sex marriage.