The Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) stands to make major gains in upcoming elections as the party continues to amass momentum in only its fifth year of existence.

Big League Politics recently met with Claudiu Târziu, the leader in the Romanian Senate for the AUR. In addition to serving in Romanian parliament, Târziu serves as Chairman of the AUR-founded Conservative Institute and is President of the AUR’s National Council.

Târziu sat down with Big League Politics to discuss AUR’s chances in upcoming elections, the country’s conflicted relationship with the European Union (EU), the party’s foreign policy stance related to Ukraine, and other crucial topics for nationalists in Romania and abroad.

Târziu told BLP that an unanticipated declaration for special elections by the socialist left currently in control over Romania has put the AUR under strain as they are forced to recruit candidates and get them filed before an imminent deadline. Even though the call for special elections was likely done in an attempt to catch the AUR off guard, Târziu believes those efforts will be futile and anticipates substantial victories at all levels for the AUR in June.

“Our main political message is nationalistic, patriotic, pro-family, pro-sovereignty, pro-Christian. This message of ours is the reason for our being in the center of attention of Romanian politics, and it is very much connected to local issues so we expect their attempts to hurt our success to backfire,” Târziu said, expecting substantial gains in both local and national parliamentary elections in June. Târziu explained the AUR’s position that Romania should stay in the EU despite the globalist body’s radical and subversive agenda. He believes that the EU must be reformed from within, and the AUR is organizing so that Romanian interests can no longer be ignored by the EU.

“In Romania, the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ means we would need to close all our coal mines, that we would be forced to shut down all the production capacity for coal, that they will want to make measures against our farmers, and that the auto industry would be seriously affected,” Târziu said, calling the EU a burgeoning “superstate” that has strayed massively from its initial goals of promoting peace and cooperation but still, he stopped short of wanting to remove Romania from the EU.

“For Romania, an exit of the EU will mean suicide for us. We need access to the European markets for our economy, and removal would hurt our people greatly,” Târziu stated.

“Romania doesn’t have any kind of relationship with China or much of a relationship with other BRICS members. Our relationship with the United States economically is minimal. Our relationships with countries in North Africa and parts of Asia have deteriorated over the last 30 years. This is why our existence in the European Union is important even though their agenda harms us in many respects. Our vision for the EU is to reform the institution from the inside. We know this is difficult, but it is our only hope,” Târziu added.

Târziu explained the AUR’s concern about Ukraine, including the party’s support for Romanian Christians who are being persecuted, conscripted into a war, and forced to assimilate into Ukrainian society as the nation becomes more paranoid and authoritarian over the war against Russia.

“Both in Ukraine and in Russia, the Church is a political tool. The rulers of the Russian and Ukrainian churches are not interested in Christian people, but they are interested in how to use the church to achieve their political goals,” Târziu said.

“More than 500,000 ethnic Romanians are living in Ukraine today. They are living in territories that were formerly in the Romanian state. They were born there and never voluntarily left Romania for Ukraine. Kiev is forcing them to be assimilated into Ukraine. And this process of assimilation has fully accelerated after the war started. And the last law pushed by Kiev would make things much more difficult for Romanians in Ukraine to preserve their national identity,” Târziu explained.

“Romanians in Ukraine, especially young people, are put on the front lines of the war effort. They don’t care how Romanians have helped Ukraine. They are ungrateful for our help. They have invaded our markets with very bad products not respecting any regulations or quality control, hurting our farmers and business owners,” Târziu added.

Târziu made it clear that the AUR strongly supports Romanian reunification with the Moldova province, and Ukraine’s activity in Moldova has had a negative influence on Romanian stability and security.

“After World War 2, the historical province of Moldova was cut in two. In 1991, Russia created a war against the eastern part of Moldova. It had previously belonged to the USSR, and this small war largely came to an end in 1992 but tensions are still ongoing. As a consequence of this war, a part of Moldova named Transnistria remains under the direct control of the Russian army despite having no border with Moldova,” Târziu said.

“Even though Ukrainian and Russian relations have soured considerably, Russian troops still remain in Transnistria. The political class in Moldova are playing ugly games and letting Transnistrians, who are mostly Russian, have free reign throughout Europe. Ukraine actually offered citizenship to 200,000 Transnistrians in violation of the Ukrainian constitution. They can go anywhere. They can claim to be refugees and get asylum. But they are criminals, and these criminals are keeping Transnistria under captivity. I sent a letter to President Zelensky about this issue but have been ignored. I made the letter public and it has created an increased awareness of this concern,” Târziu continued.

“We are fully aware of the danger that Russia represents, and we do not have nice memories of what Russia has done to Romania throughout history. But Ukraine is behaving almost like Russia has toward Romania now. The danger for this local conflict between Russia and Ukraine to be expanded throughout Europe is very high now. Putin, Burrell and Macron have spoke about nuclear weapons, and this could bring the destruction of our whole continent. This is why we must push for peace.”

The AUR recently hosted the Make Europe Great Again (MEGA) at the Romanian Parliamentary Palance featuring hundreds of conservative leaders from throughout the world to show their support for AUR. The event was a huge success, drawing attention to the AUR’s success and the rising hope for nationalism to take root in Romania.