Romanian and Polish right-wing presidential candidates Simion and Nawrocki campaign together

Karol Nawrocki and George Simion, right-wing candidates in the Polish and Romanian presidential elections that both take place this Sunday, have campaigned together at a rally in Poland.

Nawrocki welcomed the support of his Romanian counterpart. But Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk criticised Nawrocki – whose candidacy is supported by the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party – for appearing alongside the “pro-Russian” Simion.

“The future president of Romania and the future president of Poland,” declared Nawrocki, welcoming Simion on stage at a rally in the Polish city of Zabrze on Tuesday, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

“When we win on 18 May, we will together build a Europe of values, a Europe of homelands, in which we will not allow the EU to centralise and turn Poland and Romania into provinces,” he continued.

“We must fight again for freedom, for our rights, our Christian values ​​and our families,” said Simion, quoted by news website OKO.press. “Our nations are waking up, we will not allow neo-Marxist ideology or the Green Deal [an EU climate policy] to dominate.”

Simion’s Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) party is part of the same European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group as PiS in the European Parliament.

On 4 May, Simion won the first round of Romania’s presidential election, taking 41% of the vote. This Sunday, he will face Nicușor Dan, an independent, in the second-round run-off. Nawrocki, meanwhile, is one of 13 candidates standing in the first round of Poland’s presidential election on the same day.

Figures associated with PiS have been among the right-wing and far-right voices across Europe and the United States who criticised the annulment of Romania’s presidential election last year after the first round was won by the nationalist Călin Georgescu.

The decision was made by Romania’s Supreme Court due to evidence that Russia had coordinated a campaign to promote Georgescu, who was later banned from standing in this year’s reorganised election.

However, Georgescu and his supporters argue that the election was illegitimately stolen from him amid interference from the European Union. That message has been echoed by Simion and also by some figures from PiS.

In March, PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński said that the EU is “clearly preparing to repeat [in Poland] what happened in Romania, that is, to defend this repulsive so-called liberal-democratic, and in fact anti-democratic, system against change, against the building of democracy”.

Simion’s support for Nawrocki this week was welcomed by PiS figures. “Poland and Romania are waking up together,” wrote PiS MP Jan Mosiński. “It’s time for nations, not European elites!”

Nawrocki’s decision to appear alongside Simion was, however, criticised by figures from Poland’s ruling camp, who pointed to the Romanian’s history of opposing support for Ukraine and of downplaying the threat of Russia. Last year, Ukraine issued a three-year entry ban against Simion.

“Russia rejoices,” tweeted Tusk on Tuesday. “Nawrocki and his pro-Russian Romanian counterpart George Simion on the same stage five days before the presidential elections in Poland and Romania. Everything is clear.”

Simion himself responded to the message, posting an image of Tusk meeting Putin in 2010 and saying that it is in fact Tusk who is “Putin’s man in Poland”.

Meanwhile, Mirosława Nykiel, an MEP from Tusk’s centrist Civic Coalition (KO), noted that “Nawrocki’s friend [Simion]…is banned from entering Ukraine, Moldova considers him a ‘threat to security’, [and he is] anti-EU and pro-Russian”.

“Let’s stop Putin’s international – let’s vote for Rafał Trzaskowski,” she added, referring to KO’s presidential candidate. Trzaskowski and Nawrocki are expected to come first and second in Sunday’s election. If neither wins more than 50% of the vote, the pair would meet for a second-round run-off on 1 June.

PiS itself takes a strongly anti-Russia line. However, it has faced criticism in the past for aligning itself with other right-wing and far-right parties in Europe that are more sympathetic towards Moscow.

During the current presidential campaign, Nawrocki has expressed support for Ukraine in its defence against Russian aggression but has also said that he “currently does not envision Ukraine in either the EU or NATO”.

Main image credit: Karol Nawrocki/X