Călin Georgescu

Călin Georgescu (; born 26 March 1962) is a Romanian politician and agronomist. He has long worked in the field of sustainable development, and served as President of the European Research Centre for the Club of Rome (2013–2015). his views have been described as pro-Russian, and he has been described as a right-wing populist, ultranationalist, and conspiracy theorist. He peddled anti-capitalism.

Following the election, the Romanian security services alleged that Georgescu's campaign had utilized over €1 million in undeclared funds and that the election infrastructure had been subjected to cyber-attacks believed to originate from "a state actor". Based on these allegations, the Constitutional Court of Romania annulled the results of the first round on 6 December.

On 26 February 2025, Georgescu was detained by police and charged with several offenses, including "incitement to actions against the constitutional order." Authorities also imposed a 60-day ban on his media appearances. At the time of his exclusion, Georgescu was leading in public opinion polls. Nicușor Dan was ultimately elected president.

Early life and education Georgescu was born on 26 March 1962 in the Cotroceni neighborhood of Bucharest, the son of Scarlat Georgescu and Aneta Georgescu, née Popescu. He graduated in 1986 from the Nicolae Bălcescu Institute of Agronomy in Bucharest and obtained his Ph.D. in pedology from the same institute in 1999.

Diplomatic career In 1991, Georgescu became head of the Office for the Environment of the Romanian Parliament. In 1992, he became an adviser to the then Minister of Environment Marcian Bleahu. He was Secretary General in the Ministry of Environment from 1997 to 1998.

Georgescu has worked as the UN Special Rapporteur for human rights and hazardous waste, and represented Romania on the national committee of the United Nations Environment Programme.

Political career Georgescu was proposed as prime minister by the Alliance for the Union of Romanians in 2020 and 2021. Georgescu ran for president in the 2024 Romanian presidential election. Among his campaign stances were strengthening Romania's defence capabilities, diversifying Romania's diplomatic relations, increasing support for farmers, promoting energy and food production, and reducing dependency on imports. and advanced to a runoff scheduled on 8 December along with Elena Lasconi.

On 6 December 2024, the Constitutional Court of Romania cancelled the presidential elections, which will have to be rescheduled for a later date. The court did not provide a reason for the cancellation. Russia's meddling with the Romanian elections has been mentioned as the foremost reason. Since there was no imminent and irreparable danger to Mr. Georgescu's human rights, ECHR does not prioritize his case.

On 6 March 2025, Georgescu definitively lost the trial at ECHR. ECHR has motivated that only elections for legislative bodies are covered by human rights stipulations, elections for the president are not. Also, there was no evidence of having had an unfair trial. He has also said that the Romanian revolution was used by the West to steal Romanian resources, and has multiple times promoted COVID-19 misinformation. Romania accused Israel of interfering in the 2024 Romanian presidential election in favor of Georgescu. On 2 December 2024, the Jewish News Syndicate characterized Georgescu as "—a little-known antisemitic, Holocaust-denying, pro-Russia candidate—projected to win a runoff election for prime minister amid allegations of Russian meddling". Haaretz does not see Georgescu as a friend of the Jews.

On 6 December, the Romanian Constitutional Court unanimously annulled the presidential election process due to additional "aggressive hybrid Russian attacks" favoring Georgescu.

Georgescu has stated that he favors Romania's geopolitical non-alignment between the two power blocs. He denied being an extremist or a fascist, saying, "We remain directly linked to European values, but we must find our (own) values." He spoke about supporting Romanian farmers, traditional values, the Romanian Orthodox Church, and Romania's energy and agricultural self-sufficiency. He said that Romania would respect its commitments to the EU and NATO, but only "to the extent that they will respect theirs" toward Romania. He criticised Romania's dependence on international companies in sectors such as food, water, and energy. Georgescu accused the arms industry in the United States of fueling the Russo-Ukrainian War, but claimed that, "For me and my people, the most important is the partnership with America." He supported Donald Trump's efforts to end the war in Ukraine through negotiations.

Several media articles criticized Georgescu for his pro-Russian statements, describing him as a Russophile and demonstrating how he used his social media platforms to spread information sourced to Russian state media. This also resulted in him leaving the AUR in 2022. Georgescu also criticised the European Union and NATO, and in a 2021 interview, he described the latter's ballistic missile defense shield in Deveselu as a "shame of diplomacy", and called it a "disgrace". Georgescu has also pledged to end military aid to Ukraine if he is elected president. Additionally, he described Ukraine as a fictional state, while suggesting that Romania could annex Ukrainian territories, precisely Northern Bukovina, Budjak, and Northern Maramureș. Georgescu also describes himself as "ultra pro" US President Donald Trump. Georgescu promoted conspiracy theories and pseudoscientific claims such as chemotherapy and vaccines are part of a profit-making "establishment" and a "crime against their peers", water is not H2O and has its own memory that can influence the human body, C-section births break the divine thread of the child, and other alternative medicine, and healthcare "solutions." Georgescu considers climate change "a global scam", which "has nothing to do with reality", that he's met another species that's "in no way human"

In his 14 February 2025 Munich Security Conference Address, US Vice President JD Vance singled out Romania's Constitutional Court's annulment decision on their most recent presidential election as one of several examples of Europe's refusal to adhere to America's most current democratic principles.

Political scientist Elena Trifan compared Georgescu's rhetoric to Donald Trump and Narendra Modi, arguing that he frames his country's challenges as "moral and spiritual dilemmas rather than structural issues." Academic Stefan Baghiu, analysing Georgescu's campaign theatrics for social media, suggests that Georgescu promotes "a neo-legionary blend of Christian mysticism and New Age philosophy." Many other media outlets agree that he promoted New Age theories.

He advocates the nationalization of all foreign-owned businesses in Romania. Economist Eugen Rădulescu argued Georgescu's proposals would transform Romania into the "North Korea of Europe" and "set the economy back 20 years." Baghiu concludes that Georgescu has "an incoherent, yet systematic opposition to capitalism".

On 4 December 2024, Romanian president Klaus Iohannis declassified and published Romanian intelligence agency documents, which stated that Georgescu's growth was "not organic" and was funded and coordinated by a "state actor". Iohannis declassified the documents at the request of the intelligence agencies. The documents said that Georgescu's advertising campaign slogan "Balance and uprightness" was in its methodology identical to an earlier TikTok campaign slogan "Brother near brother" purchased by Russian actors and targeting Ukraine. Romanian media said that the person who funded the Georgescu campaign was a right-wing supporter named Eugen Sechila. The documents said that the campaign was coordinated through Telegram and Discord channels, where advice was given to participants on how to bypass TikTok security mechanisms, avoid geoblocking, and bans for comment spam. One involved account, "bogpr," identified as registered for a Romanian citizen, Bogdan Peșchir, made donations to other TikTok accounts of over €1 million, including €381,000 to accounts directly involved in promoting Georgescu's campaign. The South African advertising company FA Agency contacted numerous TikTok influencers and offered €1,000 for promoting Georgescu's videos. In total, over 25,000 accounts were involved in promoting these videos. TikTok banned 27,000 fake accounts run by a third-party "fake engagement vendor" that promoted Georgescu and the AUR. The Constitutional Court of Romania annulled the results of the election on 6 December. It did not provide a reason for the cancellation. Georgescu's opponent, Elena Lasconi, said, "The constitutional court's decision is illegal, amoral, and crushes the very essence of democracy, voting."

The Romanian investigative outlet Snoop wrote that the "Balance and uprightness" campaign on TikTok was funded by the National Liberal Party, which hired the Romanian firm Kensington Communication to run the campaign. Kensington Communications sent a script to 130 influencers for use through a newly established platform called FameUp. Although the hashtag was changed from "Balance and seriousness" to "Balance and uprightness" (the firm Kensington Communication claims it was done without consulting them), the influencers still followed the script given to them. Then, at least some of these influencers added "Călin Georgescu" in the comments – in effect, lending their support to Georgescu. Romanian businessman Dan Șucu estimated the cost of Georgescu's electoral campaign at €50 million.

He received the nickname "TikTok Messiah" or "Ultranationalist Messiah".

Detention and investigation On 26 February 2025, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into Georgescu for various alleged offenses, including campaign funding abuses, support of fascist groups, and "incitement to actions against the constitutional order". His questioning coincided with police searches at 47 home addresses, according to the General Prosecutor's Office. Georgescu denied all wrongdoing and stated authorities were "looking to invent evidence to justify stealing the election and to do anything in their efforts to block a new candidacy from me."

Prosecutors ordered Georgescu not to appear in the media or create any new social media accounts for the next 60 days. These bans were set to expire one week before the 4 May 2025 presidential election.

The investigation established that Georgescu's security team was primarily composed of mercenaries who fought alongside the Wagner Group, most notably Horațiu Potra, Marin Burcea, Eugen Sechila, and Dorina Mihai. All had links to Wagner and the Akhmat Kadyrov Regiment.

Georgescu takes no income, and his wife's company declared an income of 2.000 Lei (€400) per month. The couple and their children inhabit an expensive villa, valued at €500,000, and he used to have a driver and bodyguards, who were paid at least €500 a day. According to the last available overview, the couple earned about 2100 Lei (€420) per month , and 1525 Lei (€305) per month .

2025 presidential campaign and disqualification On 7 March 2025, Georgescu filed his candidacy for the 2025 presidential election. On 9 March, Romania's Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) rejected Georgescu's candidacy, Georgescu appealed the decision; however, on 11 March 2025, the Constitutional Court upheld the Central Electoral Bureau's decision. On 26 May, Georgescu announced his retirement from politics.

Aftermath

On 16 September, Georgescu and 21 others were charged with plotting a coup following the annulment of the 2024 election. He and some others are also being investigated as part of a €1.1 million fraud case. Georgescu claimed he was being prosecuted by the "Globalist-Sorosist Oligarchy" and that "forces from Western Europe" had sought to assassinate him. Georgescu stands accused of creating an organization seeking to kill Jews, foreigners, politicians, and judges.

Personal life Georgescu is married and has three children.

Publications Romania at Crossroads, Editura Logos, București, 2014 and Editura Christiana, 2016 (second revised edition and the country project)

"România după criză. Reprofesionalizarea" [Romania After the Crisis. Reshaping Professional Worth], coordinators and Călin Georgescu, Compania Publishing House, Bucharest, 2010. . "Trezirea la realitate" [A Wake-up Call], in România post-criză. Reprofesionalizarea României III [Romania after the Crisis], 3rd IPID Report, Bucharest, 2010, pp. 5–15. "Reclădirea capitalului uman" [Rebuilding Human Capital], in Șansa României: oamenii. Reprofesionalizarea României II [A Chance for Romania: Betting on People], 2nd IPID Report, București, 2009, pp. 7–18. "Romania at the Eve of the Third Millennium", in Millennium III, special issue on "Which Forces are Driving Europe?, European Conference of the National Associations of the Club of Rome", Bucharest, 23–24 May 2008, pp. 95–103. "Reprofesionalizarea României" [Reshaping Professional Worth in Romania], 1st IPID Report, Bucharest, 2008; author and editor. National Sustainable Development Strategy of Romania 2013-2020-2030, (available in Romanian and English), Government of Romania, Bucharest, 2008; Project Manager. Planurile Locale de Dezvoltare Durabilă "Agenda Locală 21" [Local Sustainable Development Plans under Local Agenda 21], for 40 local authorities, 2000–2008; Project Manager. National Sustainable Development Strategy, (available in Romanian and English), United Nations Development Programme, Bucharest, 1999; Project Manager. România 2020, co-editor with Mircea Malița et al., Editura Conspress, București, 1998. .