MAE: No discussions or interventions regarding any candidate or electoral process, in bilateral interactions with U.S. officials

 The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) on Wednesday points out that there were no discussions or interventions regarding any candidate or the electoral process in Romania during bilateral interactions with officials from the U.S. Administration."We have heard the public statements from some representatives of the U.S. Administration at the Munich Security Conference and in social media posts. Beyond these general expressions, there have been no discussions or interventions in bilateral interactions with U.S. Administration officials regarding any candidate or the electoral process in Romania," the Foreign Ministry says in a press release.According to the quoted source, Romania and Europe remain firmly committed to democracy and freedom of expression."A coherent EU, a stronger NATO, and as solid a transatlantic partnership as possible are in our mutual interest. Romania supports the need to strengthen our own forces, to take on more responsibility as Europeans, but also as strategic partners of the U.S. This includes the resilience of democratic institutions, fundamental freedoms, and the integrity of elections and the informational space," the Foreign Ministry highlights.   *** President Donald Trump’s administration is pressuring Romanian authorities to allow Calin Georgescu to run in the presidential elections in May, Bloomberg reports. The information appears just a few days after Vice President JD Vance’s harsh criticism of Romania, regarding the cancellation of the November elections.   In recent days, in private meetings with their Romanian counterparts, U.S. officials have focused almost exclusively on the vote, warning Romanian officials not to block the candidacy of Georgescu, a Trump supporter who has criticized NATO and praised Vladimir Putin, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity.   The Trump administration’s concern about the situation in Romania had already been highlighted by Vice President J.D. Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference, where he criticized Romania’s decision in December to cancel the November election. Bloomberg reported that Romanian Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu and Trump’s envoys Keith Kellogg and Richard Grenell exchanged views at the Munich conference.   Economy Minister Bogdan Ivan met with Vance at an artificial intelligence summit in Paris earlier this month. Beyond these and other points of contact, Bloomberg also writes, the government in Bucharest has failed to open a channel of communication with the Trump administration to alleviate concerns about the vote, a source said.   Like their EU counterparts, government officials in Bucharest fear that aggressive maneuvering by Washington and direct interference in the electoral process could lead to a rupture in relations with a crucial ally, one of the officials said, Bloomberg adds.   Elon Musk has made several posts about Romania recently. On February 8, Elon Musk reposted on his X account an interview given by AUR MEP Georgiana Teodorescu for the account of Mario Nawfal, a prominent MAGA supporter in the United States. Teodorescu said that Elon Musk should come to Europe to support conservative parties, including in Romania, in May, when the presidential elections will take place. Also on December 20, Elon Musk asked, in a post on X, “how can a judge cancel the elections and not be considered a dictator.”   Calin Georgescu was the surprise winner of the first round of the presidential election on November 24. The Constitutional Court annulled the results of the first round of the presidential election on December 6 and ordered a rerun, following secret service documents analyzed by the Supreme Council for National Defense and declassified by former President Iohannis.   “The free expression of the vote was violated by the fact that voters were misinformed through an electoral campaign in which one of the candidates benefited from aggressive promotion,” states the reasoning behind the Constitutional Court’s (CCR) unprecedented decision to annul the presidential election.   The CCR also states that “the transparent and fair nature of the electoral campaign was affected and the legal regulations regarding its financing were disregarded.” In the document justifying their decision to annul the presidential elections, the CCR judges say that, after declassifying the documents presented at the CSAT meeting, they found that the electoral process “was flawed throughout its duration” and “all these aspects had a convergent effect of disregarding the essential principles of democratic elections”.   The CCR also motivates the annulment of the elections by the need to exclude interference by state or non-state entities in propaganda campaigns. Former President Klaus Iohannis directly named Russia as the state actor involved in the elections. Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who said Romania was committed to holding “free and fair elections,” urged Romania’s interim president to convene a meeting of the country’s top security body to discuss the speech and the country’s election.