A former important ally of George Simion, criticism of the AUR president after the “cake moment”: “Totally inappropriate” / He says that the image of Romania is not representative of Simion: “A different approach is needed in AUR”

AUR President George Simion must show responsibility and respect the statute of his own party, in which it is specified that AUR respects international law and the territorial integrity of states, claims, in a dialogue with HotNews, the former number 2 of AUR, Marius Lulea. He says that it is not clear to him what Simion wanted to convey when, in the US, he cut a cake in the shape of Greenland.

Marius Lulea, who after last year's AUR Congress was left without any leadership position in the party, says that George Simion's gesture “was totally inappropriate”, referring to the video published on X in which Simion is seen cutting a cake in the shape of Greenland, the Danish territory that Donald Trump is trying to annex.

“We do not support revisionist policies of any kind”

“It is an official position of the party, which is also written in the statute, that we respect international law, the sovereignty of states, their territorial integrity. We do not support revisionist policies of any kind,” Marius Lulea told HotNews.

Asked if this means that George Simion violated the party statute, Lulea replied: “I don't know what was the message he wanted to convey to you. I'm just saying what I think in the way the message was seen in the public space. A politician must be responsible and make sure that the message is understood in accordance with the statutory provisions.”

HotNews asked George Simion to comment on Marius Lulea's claims. As soon as we receive a response, we will publish it.

George Simion said Wednesday that “the so-called 'cake episode,' raised to the level of a topic by service analysts, was a moment organized by Republicans on the occasion of the completion of one year of the mandate of President Donald Trump.”

Marius Lulea: Romania's image is officially represented by official and diplomatic channels, not by the gestures of certain politicians

The former first vice-president of the AUR says that it is “excluded” that Romania's image will suffer at the international level following the gesture made by George Simion, who leads the main opposition party in the country:

“Romania's image is officially represented by the official and diplomatic channels. I don't think that the gestures made by certain politicians, who do not have this quality, can influence international relations,” said Lulea.

“For the credibility of the party, a different approach is needed”

Marius Lulea was an important communicator of the party until the congress in November, when he no longer ran for a new position. Asked if there is a cooling of relations between him and George Simion, Lulea said: “It is not… It depends on what cooling means to you.”

“There was a stage of the party in which I considered it necessary to get involved, according to a project that was drawn up by the president of the party. That stage is over,” Lulea explained in the dialogue with HotNews.

The former number 2 of the AUR claims that, from his point of view, “for the credibility of the party, a different approach is needed, a correlation with the expectations of the Romanians, so that we are a serious party, capable of governing”: “This means that certain gestures in the public space must also reflect the seriousness of the party”.

Marius Lulea: I told George Simion that the current approach is wrong. Maybe with the pressure of other party members things will change

Marius Lulea claims that AUR's current strategy is wrong and that he communicated this to George Simion:

“I also conveyed to the president of the party that I don't think it is in line with the expectations of the Romanians who are dissatisfied with the current political class and who expect a different approach”.

When asked what George Simion answered, Marius Lulea replied that the leader of the AUR “has a certain strategy, each with… Basically, since I don't even have a candidate anymore, there are no possibilities to fundamentally change things”:

“But it doesn't mean they can't change. Maybe under the pressure of other party members who want to go to government, to have that perspective, maybe things will happen.”

In fact, Lulea claims that this was precisely the reason why he did not run for any leadership position at the November 2025 congress: “I was in dissonance with the party president's policy.”

Marius Lulea: If we maintain the same direction, AUR will not take 40% in the parliamentary elections

In the context of the criticism he brings to the party's leadership, however, the INSCOP survey for the parliamentary elections appears, which places AUR in the first position, with almost 41%. However, Marius Lulea is convinced that if the party maintains its current approach, it will not succeed in obtaining such a score in the elections,

“The elections are very far away. They are in 2028. Today we are living a reality, which is that some corrective measures are being taken for the abuses committed by the government during the electoral campaigns, namely the waste made during that period of public money. It is a process that will last about a year, that is, this year, in which through inflation and through certain budget restrictions, higher taxes, i.e. also influence on the business environment, they will try to devalue the state budget, in order to recover to the balance before that waste”, says the former first vice-president of AUR about the current government.

“But in 2027-2028, they will most likely apply the same mechanism, that is, public spending will increase, money will be printed again and the procedure of fooling the Romanians before the electoral campaign, pension increases will resume. I think it will be a different reality in 2028 than the one we are living today”, he claims.

Marius Lulea says that AUR can even get 50% in the elections, but only if the party understands that “today we no longer respond to a radically dissatisfied electorate of 10-15% and that the expectations of an electorate of 50-60% are totally different”:

“You are addressing a much wider spectrum. If AUR gives confidence that it can govern, it can get 40, 50% and 60%. There are all the necessary prerequisites, given the dissatisfaction with the political class, but not in the current form, if we keep on the same path. We need a different approach”, Lulea insisted.

Should I put AUR on Călin Georgescu prime minister? “An executive function requires completely different qualities”

Asked if, in the event that AUR wins the parliamentary elections, he would agree that the party would propose Călin Georgescu as prime minister to the president, Marius Lulea said that he had not analyzed this scenario.

“I can't actually tell you. I think Mr. Georgescu was elected by the Romanians or he should have been allowed until the end this opportunity, for the Romanians to decide to be president. They are two totally different positions. That is, the Romanians expect a certain pattern from a country's president, a diplomatic, settled person, while in an executive position completely other qualities are needed. But I didn't stay to analyze and I don't know him well enough to be able to pronounce whether or not he is suitable for this position or if he wants it”, Marius Lulea also declared.

What George Simion says about the Greenland cake episode

Contacted by HotNews on Wednesday, George Simion relayed his position published on his personal blog on Wednesday in which he accuses attacks from the “establishment media, which is trying to turn a festive moment into a foreign policy issue.”

“The so-called “cake episode”, raised to the level of a topic by service analysts, represented a moment organized by Republicans on the occasion of the completion of one year of President Donald Trump's mandate”, wrote the AUR leader.

He says his AUR delegation cannot avoid certain moments “for fear of alleged controversy: that's the atmosphere at a reception in Washington DC these days.”

“The United States of America is the main guarantor of Romania's and Europe's security. The strategic partnership with the USA is an essential pillar of Romanian foreign policy and must be strengthened, not sabotaged through manipulations and cheap ironies,” says the AUR leader in his post.

He concludes by saying that “the relationship with the USA is vital for Romania, and any effort to strengthen it should be supported, not mocked.”