#Klaus iohannis

[szepkerekkocka]

Le kellett volna menni vidékre / nem arról beszéltek, ami az embereket érdekli.

[spunkeater]

[generallemarc]

Let's assume our pro-Russian friend is right, and that he had no help from Russia and did this all on his own. If he's right, then surely this means nothing and he'll just win all over again. And for those rolling their eyes at this, remember how much closer Romania is to Russia and just how much weaker and poorer its government is than America's. Thanks to Ceaucescu's unique brand of communism, Romania is the poorest country in the EU. We're not talking about $100,000 of facebook memes in an election with $100,000,000 campaign budgets here. Assuming the whole world is like America is the left's shtick-let's not make things worse by adding ourselves to the list of morons who can't perceive anything out side of an America-centric lens.

EDIT: Apparently he cannot run in the redo due to too many instances of breaking the law.

[destielmemenews]

source 1

source 2

source 3 (in Romanian)

[diagnozabam]

Eduard Hellvig se înscrie în PNL: Un pas important

Fostul director al Serviciului Român de Informații (SRI), Eduard Hellvig, a anunțat marți că s-a înscris în Partidul Național Liberal (PNL), un partid din care plecase în 2015, odată cu numirea sa la conducerea SRI. Această mișcare intervine în contextul în care Nicolae Ciucă a demisionat luni din funcția de președinte al PNL, după rezultatul slab obținut în primul tur al alegerilor…

[almanach-international]

26 juin : le joueur de flûte d'Hamelin, une parabole très actuelle

Chaque année le 26 juin, la ville d’Hamelin, la ville du Joueur de flûte, chasseur de rats, est en fête, c’est Rattenfängertag. L’histoire reprise au XVIIe siècle par les frères Grimm raconte qu’un homme vêtu d'un long manteau multicolore s’est présenté dans la petite ville d’Hamelin comme un exterminateur de rats. Les habitants de la ville acceptent sa proposition de débarrasser la ville des rats. Ils le virent alors sortir une flûte et entraîner les rats hors de la ville au son de sa musique. Quand est venu le moment pour lui de réclamer son salaire, les citoyens d’Hamelin l’ont expulsé sans ménagement. Quelque temps plus tard, on le vit revenir. Alors que les habitants d’Hamelin étaient rassemblés dans les églises à écouter des chants religieux, l’homme au chapeau rouge ressorti sa flute et se mit à jouer. Cette fois, ce sont les enfants de la ville qui entraina au loin. Ils étaient 130, dont le fils du maire, on ne les revit jamais. Selon la légende, cela se serait produit le 26 juin 1284.

La notoriété de cette histoire est telle que la ville d’Hamelin (Hameln), en Basse-Saxe, organise chaque 26 juin, une grande fête locale en costumes d’époque avec des concerts de flûte. L’évènement est devenu au fil des ans très touristique.

Mais est-ce vraiment une légende ? Des historiens ont cherché un fondement à cette histoire dont il existe plusieurs versions. Certains ont voulu y voir les crimes d’un pédophile, mais 130 enfants en même temps cela fait beaucoup. L’une des versions propose un indice intéressant. Elle raconte que les enfants auraient été emmenés dans une grotte de la région qui conduit tout droit en Transylvanie.

Les historiens allemands font remarquer qu’au XIIIe siècle beaucoup d’habitants de la Basse-Saxe se sont laissé recruter pour aller travailler, justement, en Transylvanie, souvent les plus pauvres et les plus jeunes. Cette migration a laissé des traces dans la Roumanie actuelle où vit encore une communauté saxonne. Klaus Iohannis, l’actuel président de la Roumanie est l’un de leurs descendants. Ces Allemands venus jadis s’établir en Transylvanie étaient recrutés par de beaux parleurs qui leur promettaient un lopin de terre et une vie meilleure sur les terre à coloniser. C’était un coup dur pour les villes allemandes qui perdaient ainsi une maind’œuvre bon marché. Pour se faire remarquer sur les places publiques, les recruteurs qui allaient de ville en ville, frappaient sur un tambour et jouaient de la flûte… d’où la légende du joueur de flûte d’Hamelin qui fit disparaître les enfants.

Pourquoi des enfants ? À l’époque, le terme avait un sens plus large qu’aujourd’hui, il désignait les gens de peu ou “ceux qui ne sont rien” pour reprendre une formule malheureuse. On sait aujourd’hui, par exemple, que la croisade de 1212 qui parti d’Allemagne, la fameuse « croisade des enfants » était en fait composée de pauvres, pour beaucoup de  jeunes gens sans avenir cherchant au loin une nouvelle vie.

Voilà une parabole très actuelle qui pourrait s’appliquer aux passeurs sans scrupule qui entassent les jeunes Africains dans des pirogues ou des canots surchargés en direction des Canaries ou de la Sicile au risque de leur vie. Les parents les voient disparaître, parfois pour toujours. L’histoire du joueur de flûte n’évoquerait-il pas la douleur des familles confrontées à la migration d’un enfant ?

Un article de l'Almanach international des éditions BiblioMonde, 25 juin 2024

[head-post]

Romanian president pulls out of race for NATO chief post

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis dropped out of the race to head NATO on Thursday, clearing the way for Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to become the next secretary general of the transatlantic military alliance, Reuters reports.

All other NATO members have already backed Rutte to succeed Jens Stoltenberg, who is stepping down this year after a decade in office.

With the Ukrainian military conflict on NATO’s doorstep and European countries worried about a possible return to the White House by Donald Trump, alliance members have concluded that the experienced Rutte is the best candidate for the post.

Announcing Iohannis’ decision, Romania’s Supreme Defence Council said it would hand over one of the country’s two Patriot systems to Ukraine, in response to Kyiv’s requests for air defence assistance from allies.

The high council, which is chaired by Iohannis, said the president notified NATO last week of his decision to withdraw from the alliance and Romania will now support Rutte’s candidacy.

With all 32 NATO members now backing the Dutchman, diplomats said they expect the alliance’s North Atlantic Council to formally select him for the post in the coming days.

Under Rutte, the Netherlands has in recent years increased defence spending beyond the NATO target of 2% of GDP. It has supplied Kyiv with F-16 fighter jets, artillery, drones and ammunition, as well as investing heavily in its own armed forces.

Norwegian former prime minister Stoltenberg’s term at the helm of NATO expires on October 1. He took up his post in 2014. Since Stoltenberg took office, four countries – Montenegro, North Macedonia, Finland and Sweden – have joined NATO.

Read more HERE

[giorgio52fan]

Președintele și Ministrul Educației și Spectacolul Citirii Mesajelor: O Inserție de Autenticitate Lipsită

Într-o perioadă în care sistemul de învățământ al României se confruntă cu provocări semnificative, de la subfinanțare până la discrepanțele mari de performanță între zonele urbane și cele rurale, așteptările erau ridicate pentru discursurile de deschidere ale anului școlar. Cu toate acestea, într-un moment în care publicul avea nevoie de sinceritate și de direcție clară, Președintele Klaus…

[jurnaldeoltenia]

Klaus Iohannis se intalneste miercuri cu Joe Biden

Președintele României, Klaus Iohannis, va participa miercuri, 22 februarie 2023, la Varșovia, Republica Polonă, alături de Președintele Republicii Polone, Andrzej Duda, la reuniunea extraordinară a Formatului București 9 (B9), avându-i ca invitați pe Președintele Statelor Unite ale Americii, Joe Biden, și pe Secretarul General al NATO, Jens Stoltenberg. Summitul B9 se desfășoară în contextul…

[niveditaabaidya]

Romania Calls Russia’s Attack On Danube Unacceptable. #romania #danube #...

[kenrakenokwaho]

Romania won, today, in the hybrid war launched by Russia during presidential elections. The Constitutional Court annulled the first round, and the process, which was vitiated from the very beginning, will be restarted from step one.

Everything after the president in office, Klaus Iohannis, listened to the people, and declassified all the documents about Călin Georgescu's Russian-supported campaign with shady financing and TikTok schemes.

The risk of having a pro-Russian president was too high to let things slide. We couldn't be another victim of Putin's meddling. The people who voted for Călin Georgescu scream that it's unfair, that their choice is being overlooked, but they forget that they aren't the majority. They are 2 million out of 19. Their self-proclaimed "Apostle" isn't what he says he is.

If the national institutions – having information on him from all the secret services – took CG seriously, we wouldn’t have reached this point.

The Sun will shine on us again!

[zvaigzdelasas]

6 Dec 24

[spunkeater]

[problematic-polls]

one of THOSE european presidents gets to be the president of USA (don't ask me how it works). pick your poison

1Frank-Walter Steinmeier (Germany)

2Emmanuel Macron (France)

3Sergio Mattarella (Italy)

4Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Ukraine)

5Andrzej Duda (Poland)

6Klaus Iohannis (Romania)

7Katerina Sakellaropoulou (Greece)

8Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (Portugal)

9Petr Pavel (Czech Republic)

10Aleksandar Vučić (Serbia)

11Tamás Sulyok (Hungary)

12Alexander Van der Bellen (Austria)

[mariacallous]

Instead of a runoff, they’ll have a rerun. On Friday, Romania’s Constitutional Court annulled the results of the country’s first-round presidential election, in which dark horse candidate Calin Georgescu won the most votes. The court’s order that the presidential electoral process must be “entirely redone” comes after Romanian President Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence reports alleging a Russian interference campaign geared toward benefiting Georgescu on TikTok and Telegram. 

What are the next steps for Romania’s presidential race after this unprecedented ruling? And what are its implications for the country’s democracy? Our experts answer six burning questions below.

1. Why was the presidential election nullified?

This decision is historic and unprecedented. The Constitutional Court of Romania unanimously made the decision on the basis of Article 146 (f) of the Constitution concerning the legality and correctness of the presidential electoral process, with the court’s decision today stating that the “entire electoral process will be integrally redone.” The rollout of the decision was somewhat fumbled, as it became public while polling stations were already open for the diaspora in the second-round presidential election, and by the time the process was stopped, around 53,000 citizens abroad had already voted. 

This binding decision from the court comes on the heels of rapidly developing information concerning state-sponsored interference in the electoral process and Russian hybrid activities, as well as accusations of campaign finance violations. The court made its decision stating that the integrity of the vote had been affected, as one candidate skirted the law in his campaign and benefited from unfair promotion. Continued clear communication from the authorities will be critical to provide information to a society that is feeling tense and exhausted after weeks of elections.

—Anca Agachi is a defense policy analyst at the RAND Corporation and a nonresident fellow with the Transatlantic Security Initiative in the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

It’s never a good thing when an election is nullified. In this case, Romania’s Constitutional Court appears to have acted on the basis of information regarding Russian interference on behalf of Georgescu. Romanian society appears divided in its reaction, with even the liberal opposition leader, Elena Lasconi, Georgescu’s opponent in the presidential race, criticizing the decision. Demonstrations could follow in what seems to be a highly charged political environment. Romania’s December 1 parliamentary elections, however, are not affected by the decision. The new Parliament should be seated around December 21 and will be in a position to create a new government.

—Daniel Fried is the Weiser family distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former assistant US Secretary of State for Europe.

The decision to annul the first round of Romania’s presidential election revolves around declassified documents from the country’s intelligence services that allege that a coordinated campaign promoted pro-Russian candidate Georgescu to unexpectedly garner the largest percentage of the vote on November 24. 

Those allegations, which have not been proven beyond what has been published by Romania’s security services, include a coordinated campaign across social media platforms such as Telegram, Facebook, and, most importantly, TikTok that gave would-be voters the assumption that Georgescu was a more prominent candidate than had been expected before the November 24 vote. Hashtags associated with the ultranationalist candidate gained significant visibility on TikTok in the days ahead of the first round vote, and the country’s authorities subsequently asked the European Commission to look into the irregularities under the bloc’s newly passed social media laws.

A lot remains uncertain. While the Atlantic Council’s own analysis of TikTok and Telegram found significant amounts of coordination to promote Georgescu to the widest online audience possible, much of this activity was completely legal under Romania’s election laws. Claims that online influencers were paid to champion the candidate’s causes—and did not disclose those payments under campaign financing rules—do fall into the category of potential illegal behavior.

It’s unclear whether social media significantly altered voters’ choices in this particular election. Repeated studies have demonstrated that people’s access to digital platforms like TikTok represent only a part of a wider media diet, including access to traditional media and discussions with friends and family, that contributes to how they eventually decide to vote. What we do know is there is clear evidence that Georgescu’s campaign was promoted heavily by often clandestine activity across multiple social media platforms in ways that, while opaque, were mostly legal, based on what has been disclosed by local authorities and via the Atlantic Council’s own analysis. 

—Mark Scott is senior resident fellow at the Digital Forensic Research Lab’s (DFRLab) Democracy + Tech Initiative within the Atlantic Council Technology Programs. He was previously the chief technology correspondent for Politico.

2. What does this incident tell us about the resilience of democracy in Romania?

We just experienced a near-miss in the heart of NATO. Romania, a NATO ally for two decades with a record of democratic integrity, almost had a presidential election stolen by foreign intervention. The good news is that Romania’s democracy proved itself to be sufficiently robust and resilient to prevent this interference from having a decisive impact—though the final outcome of the rescheduled elections will ultimately determine that. 

The alleged interference also underscores the power of social media, how vulnerable tech platforms are to manipulation, and how significant this can be to the future of democracy. Much thought and action is urgently needed to ensure that social media is channeled and structured so that it enhances the vibrancy of democracy rather than becoming a weapon to undermine it.  

—​​Ian Brzezinski is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former US deputy assistant secretary of defense for Europe and NATO policy.

The next days, weeks, and months will be critical to ensuring that Romanian democracy has long-term prospects of not only survival, but recovery. This election season comes on the heels of massive structural challenges, such as endemic distrust in state institutions and socioeconomic issues, such as cost of living hikes and brain drain. Another major challenge for the country is corruption, which led to a sizable anti-system vote in both the presidential and parliamentary elections and provided a fertile ground for far-right parties and for malicious interference activities. 

On top of these structural challenges, there were issues with the authorities’ communication in the aftermath of the presidential election. The public experienced a whiplash in the Constitutional Court’s decisions as to whether the presidential election can proceed to the second round. The government’s communication was inconsistent concerning the fate of the presidential election, the role played by state-sponsored actors, and Russia’s role in influencing the process (including if and how these factors influenced the actual voting result). Meanwhile, jockeying among domestic political parties has created tension and deepened distrust in society. 

Notably, nongovernmental organizations, the media, and other civil society groups rose up to fill the void in an essential and constructive fashion. For instance, a media investigation uncovered links between the Kremlin and pro-Georgescu Romanian influencers. And it was civil society organizations that asked for the declassification of Supreme National Council of Defence documents pertaining to election interference. The information this kind of engagement has uncovered has been like oxygen to a society holding its breath.

—Anca Agachi

3. Who is in charge of managing this issue now, and what can we expect from the key players in the election and society at large? 

This will be a whole-of-government effort, likely spread across the newly elected (and fragmented) Parliament with responsibility over legislation and choosing the new prime minister, Iohannis (who will remain in power until a new president can take the oath of office following elections), relevant authorities with responsibilities for resilience and security, electoral authorities, and probably the judicial branch as well. 

Ideally, their focus will be on three things: 1) Build national unity in the face of far-right and anti-Euro-Atlantic forces. 2) Take action to inspect and secure critical vulnerabilities from further foreign interference. 3) Investigate the causes that led to this outcome, especially the details of the interference effort, potential collusion of those who may have benefited from it, and any responsibility of Romanian authorities in the slow identification of coordinated campaigns to influence the vote. 

Elected officials will play a critical role in communicating with the public regarding what lies ahead until the elections can be held again (likely in March), given the tension that exists in society already, massive gaps in information concerning this unprecedented decision, its implications for the country, and the challenges posed by foreign interference. However, as the entire presidential election process will be restarted, a lot of attention will be focused domestically on the repositioning of candidates and political blocs. 

—Anca Agachi

The new Parliament will support a new government. The current president may continue in office until his successor is elected but may also resign, in which case the new president of the Senate will become interim president.  One wild card is whether supporters of Georgescu will mount protests and whether these can attract widespread support.

—Daniel Fried

4. What sort of government will emerge when the new Parliament convenes on December 21?

While predictions are uncertain, the pro-European parties appear to have formed a coalition and have a majority of votes in the Parliament. That said, the parliamentary and presidential elections indicated a strong anti-incumbency trend in Romania.

—Daniel Fried

5. What can we expect next from Russia?

We can expect Russian denunciation and a wave of (feigned) outrage. The Kremlin appears to support political extremes in Romania, as elsewhere, promoting through statements and trolls a narrative of Western oppression and domination of Romania, hoping that Romanians forget the long record of Kremlin-imposed communist rule that kept Romania poor and autocratic for two generations.  

—Daniel Fried

6. What lessons should the United States and Europe take from this, and what should they do right now?

First, democratic resilience is an issue to be taken extremely seriously in Europe, not only because of what it means for domestic stability in transatlantic countries, but also given its implications for broader regional security and defense. Romania is a key NATO country in the southeast of the Alliance, and its internal political turmoil has broad implications for allied stability. Given the growth of far-right movements throughout Europe, the circumstances of this election should not be taken lightly. 

Second, renewed attention should be paid toward deepening and expanding the national and transatlantic toolbox available to respond to hybrid incidents in a broader context of transatlantic adaptation in the aftermath of Russia’s war in Ukraine. We expect information to come out in the next few weeks about what exactly happened in Romania’s case, but whatever the findings may be, it is clear that broader resilience and operational capacity in hybrid responses will be critical to transatlantic security.

—Anca Agachi

Russia seeks to strengthen extremist politics and promote a sense of threat throughout Europe, using a variety of methods including information manipulation, support for extremist politics, economic pressure, sabotage, threats, intimidation, and, in the case of Ukraine, war. Those in Europe who thought that Russian aggression had nothing to do with them have discovered their error. Russia has not created political fissures in European countries (or the United States) but seeks to exacerbate and exploit them. The solution lies in resisting Russian pressure while working to address those social and economic problems that give rise to vulnerabilities. This is not a new challenge but a current manifestation of an older one, and some perspective can help guide a common response.

—Daniel Fried

[beardedmrbean]

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A top Romanian court on Friday annulled the first round of the country’s presidential election, days after allegations that Russia ran a coordinated online campaign to promote the far-right outside r who won the first round.

The Constitutional Court’s unprecedented decision — which is final — came after President Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence on Wednesday that alleged Russia ran a sprawling campaign comprising thousands of social media accounts to promote Calin Georgescu across platforms such as TikTok and Telegram.

The intelligence files were from the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Special Telecommunication Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Despite being an outsider who declared zero campaign spending, Georgescu emerged as the frontrunner on Nov. 24. He was due to face reformist Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union party in a runoff on Sunday.

A new date will now be set to rerun the vote from scratch. Some 951 voting stations had already opened abroad on Friday for the runoff for Romania’s large diaspora but had to be halted.

Lasconi strongly condemned the court’s decision, saying it was “illegal, immoral, and crushes the very essence of democracy.”

“We should have moved forward with the vote. We should have respected the will of the Romanian people. Whether we like it or not, from a legal and legitimate standpoint, 9 million Romanian citizens, both in the country and the diaspora, expressed their preference for a particular candidate through their votes. We cannot ignore their will!” she said.

“I know I would have won. And I will win because the Romanian people know I will fight for them, that I will unite them for a better Romania,” she added. “I will defend our democracy. I will not give up.”

She said the issue of Russian interference should have been tackled after the election was completed. Some 9.4 million people — about 52.5% of eligible voters — had cast ballots in the first round.

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said in a statement the annulment was “the only correct solution” following the intelligence drop which revealed the “Romanian people’s vote was flagrantly distorted as a result of Russian interference.”

“The presidential elections must be held again,” he said in a post on Facebook. “At the same time, investigations by the authorities must uncover who is responsible for the massive attempt to influence the outcome of the presidential election.”

The same court last week ordered a recount of the first-round votes, which added to the myriad controversies that have engulfed a chaotic election cycle. Following a recount, the court then validated the first-round results on Monday.

Many observers have expressed concerns that annulling the vote could trigger civil unrest.

George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, said the development was a “coup d’état in full swing” but urged people not to take to the streets. “We don’t let ourselves be provoked, this system has to fall democratically,” he said.

Cristian Andrei, a political consultant based in Bucharest, said the court’s decision amounts to a “crisis mode situation for the Romanian democracy.”

“In light of the information about the external interference, the massive interference in elections, I think this was not normal but predictable, because it’s not normal times at all, Romania is an uncharted territory,” he told The Associated Press. “The problem is here, do we have the institutions to manage such an interference in the future?”

Thirteen candidates ran in the first round presidential vote in this European Union and NATO member country. The president serves a five-year term and has significant decision-making powers in areas such as national security, foreign policy and judicial appointments. On Dec. 1, Romania also held a parliamentary election which saw pro-Western parties win the most votes, but also a surge of support for far-right nationalists.

Before the first round vote, most surveys predicted the top three candidates would be Ciolacu, who came in third place, and Simion or Lasconi in second place. As the surprising results came in with Georgescu on top, and Lasconi narrowly beating Ciolacu, it sent shockwaves through the political establishment and plunged it into turmoil.

Georgescu’s surprising success in the presidential race left many political observers wondering how most local surveys were so far off, putting him behind at least five other candidates before the vote.

Many observers attributed his success to his TikTok account, which now has 6 million likes and 541,000 followers. But some experts suspect Georgescu’s online following was artificially inflated while Romania’s top security body alleged he was given preferential treatment by TikTok over other candidates.

In the intelligence release, the secret services alleged that one TikTok user paid more $381,000 (361,000 euros) to other users to promote Georgescu content. Intelligence authorities said information they obtained “revealed an aggressive promotion campaign” to increase and accelerate his popularity.

Georgescu, when asked by the AP in an interview Wednesday whether he believes the Chinese-owned TikTok poses a threat to democracy, defended social media platforms.

“The most important existing function for promoting free speech and freedom of expression is social media,” he said.