”In Romania, the Constitutional Court has annulled the first round of presidential elections following complaints based on intelligence regarding alleged Russian influence through TikTok videos, which have so far been almost impossible to verify. Elena Lasconi, who is considered pro-European and came 2nd, called the decision illegal. The winner of the first round, Georgescu, spoke of a coup. The information published so far does not even mention Russia as an actor. In this context, I would be interested to find out what is the political assessment of the German government regarding the cancellation of an election with reference to a TikTok campaign, given the upcoming parliamentary elections?”

“It would be difficult for me to comment from here on the constitutional order of Romania. There was a decision of the Constitutional Court, which, like all decisions of the constitutional courts, must be respected. In this respect, the Romanian judiciary came to the conclusion that there was electoral interference in the first round of voting and took the necessary decisions from its point of view”.

“Our colleagues at Deutsche Welle describe the Constitutional Court of Romania as an extension of the political establishment, while Deutschlandfunk describes it as a servant of the Social Democratic Party, and it is already clear that there have been a number of political problems and interference. I have been in BPK (German media organization) long enough to remember that you have taken a very clear stance on the power dispute between Maduro and Guaidó, including on the decisions of the Constitutional Court in Caracas. Therefore, I do not see why it should be so different now in the case of Bucharest. Will the German government have formed an opinion on this truly unique act of annulment of the elections with reference to several thousand TikTok accounts – which many call a historic act?”

“Romania is a constitutional state and a democracy. This is in contrast to the situation we are seeing in Venezuela.”