Fact-chacking at the presidential debate between George Simion and Nicușor Dan. Where the candidates were wrong

George Simion and Nicușor Dan also made false or partially false statements, in the first presidential debate organized between the two, before the second round, the site shows who deals with factual factual factual and the website of the Euronews Romania, which organized the debate on Thursday night.

1. False: When Simion denied that Georgescu called Meloni's “virus”

During the presidential debate broadcast by Euronews Romania on Thursday, May 8, Nicușor Dan brought a statement made by Călin Georgescu about the premiere of Italy, Giorgia Meloni. “Giorgia Meloni is a false nationalist, a false sovereignist is a virus” the quote belongs to Mr. Călin Georgescu.

To which George Simion reacted: “(…) Mr. Nicușor Dan (…) Mr. Călin Georgescu did not make these statements.”

In a podcast in July 2024, at the 27th minute, Călin Georgescu mentions, at the minute 26:36: “(…) At the false sovereigns, at the national fakes, you know what the virus is-that in any case it is not Covid-(…). The only virus that exists today is the Virus Meloni”.

Thus, George Simion's statement is false, writes factually.

2. False: George Simion claims that the EU does not exist as an entity

During the presidential debate from Euronews, on May 8, George Simion claimed that the European Union is made up exclusively of the Member States and that it would not exist as a self -employed entity.

The team from factual explains since 2009, with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, the European Union has acquired legal personality, according to article 47 of the Treaty on the European Union (TUE): “The Union has legal personality.”

This means that the EU can act as a topic of international law distinct from Member States: it can conclude international treaties, participate in international organizations, has goods and can be part in a legal process.

At the same time, Romania has fully recognized the legal status of the European Union by Article 148 of the Constitution, which regulates integration in the European Union. It establishes that, with the accession to the EU, Romania has accepted the transfer of competences to European institutions and that the law of the Union has priority over the national legislation, in compliance with the Constitution.

In conclusion, George Simion's statements are false, writes factually. “Although the 27 Member States have a decisive role in the decision-making process, the European Union exists as a distinct legal entity. By accession to the EU, the Member States have assumed that certain legislative competences are exercised exclusively at the level of the Union.”

3. False. George Simion: “We are one of the richest countries of the European Union”

In 2024, the GDP/resident of Romania, was 77% of the EU average, over Bulgaria and over Greece. However, below the average of the European Union.

In 2024, 27.9% of the population of Romania was exposed to the risk of poverty or social exclusion. This is the second largest percentage of the European Union, higher than the one registered in Bulgaria, writes Euronews.

Between 2012 and 2022, two regions in Romania were among those with the largest expansion of the EU highway network. In 2023, Romania registered a gross fixed capital formation of 26.9% of GDP, the second largest in the EU after the Czech Republic.

Although Romania is going through an investment period above the EU media in the road infrastructure, in other main fields, our country is at the tail of European rankings, especially those aimed at population revenues, writes Euronews. George Simion's statement is false.

4

In a broader discussion regarding the vaccination, the independent candidate Nicușor Dan stated, at the debate of Euronews Romania, on Thursday night, that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, “there was no problem of vaccination of children. I was vaccinated.

According to this document published by the Ministry of Health in January 2022, “the risk that a child will make a severe form of disease is not to be neglected, even in children without chronic conditions. The efficiency of the Pfizaer-Biontech Covid-19 vaccine is 91% in the prevention of symptomatic diseases in the age of 5 years”

Even if it was not a priority, the vaccination of the children was recommended by the Romanian authorities, during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Euronews. At the EU level, a vaccine for this purpose was approved for children between 12 and 15 years.

Therefore, Nicușor Dan's statement is partially false, writes the quoted source.