[6][7] The main purpose of the organization is to save Romanians "hunted down in their own country" from the Hungarians viewed as "hordes plaguing humanity".
[4] The emergence of the "Romanian Hearth" was helped by ex-Securitate officers.
[4] The organization has been described by various sources as quasi-fascist,[8] radical nationalist,[4] xenophobic ultra-nationalist,[9] anti-Hungarian[10] and anti-Semitic.
[13] The Union received support from the then-ruling National Salvation Front and president Iliescu, hoping to increase the popularity of the front in the area of Transylvania.
[14][15] In 1992, the Union had around 4 million supporters, and the PUNR formed electoral coalitions with Iliescu's Democratic National Salvation Front in several Transylvanian counties for the 1992 election.