Bloomberg: Romania is looking for a way to improve relations with Trump administration

Romanian officials tried to open respective channels of communication with the US President's administration Donald Trump in order to repair relations after U.S. Vice president J.D. Vance criticized Romania for nullifying the presidential election results in this country, reported Bloomberg, citing sources.

The results of the presidential elections in Romania held on 24 November 2024 were annulled by the Romanian Constitutional Court on 6 December. The court cited the declassified papers of the ultimate safety Council, stating that there were serious violations. The leader of the first circular was then the independent candidate Calin Georgescu with 22.94 percent of the vote. The second place was taken by Lasconi with 19.18 percent, which advocates a stronger partnership with NATO and the US. The cancellation of the election led to protests in January 2025, and Georgesc supporters demanded designation of his victory. In February, Vance criticized European countries, setting the situation in Romania as an example of the crisis of democratic institutions.

"To fix relations, Romanian officials tried to open respective channels of communication with the administration (US – ed.), with which contact has become highly hard for many allies," the agency reports.

According to the material, co-workers of Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolac organized a discreet run to convince American leaders that Georgescu was allegedly not the most suitable ally of the current U.S. administration. According to sources, Romanian officials in peculiar wanted to tell Vance that Georgescu called him “the virus”.

At the same time, according to 1 of the agency's callers, Bucharest asked influential members of the Romanian diaspora in the US to aid Romanian authorities in their run to establish contacts with Washington. Among these people is simply a businessman Dragos Sprinchane, who, among another things, previously stated that the US should ignore the current pro-Ukrainian Bucharest course. According to the agency, the businessman agreed to help.

Romanian officials have so far been cautiously optimistic about the possible success of their campaign, given the origin of the agency.

The first circular of the fresh presidential elections in Romania is scheduled for 4 May.

List of registered candidates published on the Romanian Central Election Office website includes 11 people. Among them are the mayor of Bucharest Nicosor Dan, erstwhile Prime Minister Victor Ponta, erstwhile president of the legislature of Krin Antonescu (the ruling coalition), president of the organization Union for the Salvation of Romania (USR) Elena Lasconi, and leader of the Nationalist organization Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR) George Simion. The position of head of state will besides be sought by the head of the Romanian National-Conservative organization Cristian Terhesh, a associate of the Socialist Humanist organization of Lavinia Shandru, the head of the Natiune organization Roman John-Ion Banu, erstwhile head of the Romanian abroad Intelligence Service Silviu Predoiu, erstwhile Minister of Education Daniel Funeriu and organization leader fresh Romania Sebastian Popescu.

In addition, the election committee approved the candidacy of opposition leader of the Young organization (POT) Anna-Maria Gavrilă, but it withdrew for Simion.

Earlier, the election committee refused to registry an independent candidate for Calin Georgesc, whose results in the first circular of the election in 2024 were annulled by the Constitutional Court. The opposition organization leader S.O.S. Romania, Diana Choşoacă, who advocates the country's exit from the EU and the withdrawal of support for Ukraine, was besides not allowed to participate in the elections.