A court clerk tormented by guilt after carrying out an eviction stars in Kontinental '25The magnificent new film by Romanian director Radu Jude (Bucharest, 1977) is now in theaters. The author of Don't expect too much from the end of the world and of An unfortunate fling or crazy porn (Golden Bear at the 2011 BerlinaleHe is one of the key figures in contemporary European cinema, and his films explore, in a striking way, the dilemmas and everyday absurdity of characters searching for their place in a society without a moral compass.

The ballot boxes continue to test the European Union, telling it that it has had enough doubts, and it must go all out and resist the joint assault of Trump and Putin.has been left in a shock, a parody mounted by the ultra-right candidate George Simion, declaring himself the winner when the exit poll estimates indicated that the president would be the pro-European Nicusor Dana. Relief and hope in the EU, coexisting with fears, and all of this surrounded by great uncertainty that will cost him to leave, even if on Sunday, June 1, the liberal Rafal Trzaskowski becomes president of Poland.

The avalanche of current global political and economic information continues to accelerate. The Trump presidency in the US is an inexhaustible source of surprises, scares, and setbacks that continue to unsettle us. As if that weren't enough, this Sunday saw three important European elections that had us deeply concerned about the uncertainty of the results and the potential consequences they could have. In all three cases, the role of forces opposed to European integration that could win was on the table. Although there is no second round of the Polish presidential elections, the results of the Romanian presidential and Portuguese parliamentary elections were not disastrous, although the Portuguese elections exceeded negative expectations.

The Romanian presidential elections have placed in prime time Speeches and posters in Romanian. Perhaps some astute spectators have thought that Catalan and Romanian sound quite similar. Beyond a certain familiarity, can a Catalan and a Romanian understand each other speaking their own language? Are they two mutually incomprehensible languages? Professor of Romance Philology at the University of Barcelona, José Enrique Gargallo, is quick to add insult to injury: "We are occasionally dazzled by purely orthographic coincidences, but I, who understand and speak Romanian, continually find that those who don't know it don't understand it when someone says a sentence."

"He will do better things for our country and represent us much better. I'm sure of it. He's much more diplomatic than any other politician we've had in this country over the years, in any position. I'm sure the economy will improve, as will relations with other EU countries like Spain and France." A young Romanian expressed this confidence on Sunday night in front of Nicusor Dan's victory in the Romanian presidential elections.

A Sunday election in Romania, Poland, and Portugal produced more or less similar results in these three European Union member states. Namely, in all three cases, the conservative party in each country (Democratic Alliance in Portugal, Civic Coalition in Poland, and the independent candidate of Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan) resisted the onslaught of the respective far right. In Poland, it is still the first round, in which the liberal right candidate—and also mayor, in this case of Warsaw, Rafal Trzaskowski—narrowly edged out the far-right candidate, Karol Nawrocki, pending what may happen in two weeks, in the second round. In Romania, the first round was won by the anti-European candidate, George Simion, leader of the far-right AUR party and admirer of Trump and Viktor Orbán. However, in the second round, and against all odds, Nicolas Dan managed to overtake him, with a result that gave the European Commission pause. Finally, in Portugal, the hitherto conservative prime minister managed to repeat his position with a narrow victory over the Socialists (the day's biggest losers) and the far-right Chega party, which has experienced one of those spectacular growths characteristic of illiberal proposals around the world in the 1920s. Montenegro will have to govern as a minority and will first explore the parliamentary arithmetic that will allow it to govern without depending on Chega's far-right, but it remains ambiguous about what might happen in the future. With different modulations, the parties of liberal democracy and European social democracy are facing similar dilemmas.

Romania is betting on the European Union, and Brussels is breathing a sigh of relief. Pro-Western candidate Nicusor Dan, mayor of Bucharest since 2020, will be the country's new president after securing 53.99% of the vote in the second round of elections held this Sunday. The far-right candidate, populist George Simion, finished far behind, almost 900,000 votes behind: he obtained 46.01% of the vote. Turnout in this second round rose to 64.5%, while in the first it only reached 53%.

From Warsaw to Lisbon, via Bucharest, millions of Europeans are called to the polls this Sunday to decide the political direction of Romania, Poland, and Portugal. This Super Sunday The election is taking place amid strong geopolitical, commercial, and economic tensions on the continent, due to the Russian threat and the trade war declared by US President Donald Trump. Brussels remains on tenterhooks, especially to see if Bucharest will shift to the far right.

The far right is leading the electoral mobilization in Romania. The first round of the presidential elections, held this Sunday, gave 40% of the votes to the far-right candidate, George Simion, a defender of Greater Romania, an opponent of European aid to Ukraine, a declared Trumpist, and a supporter of the "melonization" of Europe. Simion will now face the centrist mayor of Bucharest, Nicu?or Dan, who finished twenty points behind but hopes to garner the support of the pro-European vote in the second round, scheduled for May 18.

Ultranationalist candidate George Simion has won the first round of the Romanian presidential elections, which were held again following accusations of Russian interference in the November elections. The 38-year-old pro-Russian leader won with 40% of the vote and is the favorite in the runoff, scheduled for May 18. In second place was Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan (21%), narrowly beating the ruling party candidate and who will contest the runoff.

Romanians return to the polls this Sunday to elect a new president. that can lead Romania out of the worst political crisis the country has experienced since the 1989 Revolution, which marked the end of Nicolae Ceausescu's communist dictatorship and the arrival of democracy. If no candidate receives enough votes to govern alone, the runoff will be held on May 18.

Călin Georgescu will not be able to run in the Romanian presidential elections on May 4. The judges of the Constitutional Court rejected on Tuesday the appeal filed by the pro-Russian ultra-nationalist politician and confirmed the decision of the Central Electoral Commission to invalidate the candidacy for the presidential elections. The decision of the Constitutional Court was taken unanimously and is final and binding.

New episode of the Romanian electoral series. The Romanian and European far right have supported Calin Georgescu this Monday, after he Romania's Central Election Commission will veto the candidacy of the pro-Russian ultranationalist in the presidential elections on Sunday May 19. "We are going together until the end for the same values: peace, democracy, freedom," Georgescu said in a video, in which he appeared alongside the leaders of two other Romanian ultranationalist parties: the head of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), George Simion, and the leader of the Party of Young People (POT). Simion, for his part, urged his supporters to mobilise and remain united. "Through unity we will get out of this dead end. We are with the most voted Romanian. Until the end," said the ultranationalist leader of AUR, putting his hand on Georgescu's shoulder. Hundreds of people have taken to the streets to protest against the decision.