George Simion

In 2019, Simion began to participate in politics, running as an independent candidate for the 2019 European Parliament election in Romania, in which he obtained 117,141 votes.

The first of them is Blocați în labirint ("Locked in [the] maze"), in which he talks about the timeline of the Republic of Moldova from its independence until 2017 (the year in which the book was published).

[10][5] In 2004, Simion exhibited the message Eroii nu mor niciodată ("Heroes never die") in Timișoara on the 15th anniversary of the Romanian Revolution.

Two years later, he organized a protest in Bucharest in favor of Moldovan students of the Gheorghe Asachi Romanian-French High School [ro] of Chișinău.

Therefore, he founded the Alliance for the Centenary and announced that many events had been prepared for 2018, including a march from Alba Iulia (Romania) to Chișinău (Moldova).

The march started on 1 July in Alba Iulia in front of the Coronation Cathedral, where Ferdinand I was proclaimed King of Greater Romania.

[15][16] The march ended as planned on 1 September on Chișinău, where participants were welcomed by thousands of enthusiasts and where they made one final demonstration at the Great National Assembly Square of the city.

[23] On 14 May 2015, Simion was banned for the third time from entering Moldova for a period of 5 years for "endangering national security" through his events,[13][24] becoming a persona non grata.

[25] On 28 August 2018, Simion, while participating in the Centenary March, was again banned for the fifth time for a period of 30 days for "displaying aggressive and inappropriate behavior and refusing to comply with legal procedures to cross the state border [between Moldova and Romania]".

At the same time, Simion opposed additional military aid to Ukraine, and expressed hope that US president-elect Donald Trump could end the conflict.

[29] In 2019, Simion entered the world of politics by announcing his intention to participate as an independent candidate in the European Parliament election in Romania[30] of 26 May 2019.

[37] AUR's popularity increased after obtaining 9% of the votes at the 2020 Romanian parliamentary election, becoming Romania's fourth-largest party despite having been created just over a year ago at the time.

[41] According to the party's website, the AUR's ultimate goal is to achieve the unification of all Romanians "wherever they are located, in Bucharest, Iași, Timișoara, Cernăuți, Timoc, Italy or Spain".

[42][43][34] The AUR supports the unification of Moldova and Romania and has been accused with being ultranationalist, far-right, opposed to same-sex marriage, anti-mask, anti-vaccine[34] and Magyarophobic.

[47] Georgescu is a controversial person due to the support he has received from the Federation "Romanian Civil Society", an organization that congratulated Russia on its illegal annexation of Crimea, and by Sputnik, a news agency of the Russian Government.

[48] The former Minister of Defense of Moldova Anatol Șalaru accused Simion of having met with an officer of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, in 2011.

The party members' presence in front of the Romanian National Opera in Timișoara, a symbol of the revolution, also provoked discontent.

[50] The results were the following:[32] Simion ran in the 2024 Romanian presidential election but failed to advance in the first round of voting on 24 November after placing fourth.

Simion in July 2024
Simion at the center with Iulian Surugiu (left), president of the Party of the Patriots, and Marian Vișu-Iliescu (right), president of the Romanian Village Party , in 2023