EXCLUSIVE How George Simion was kicked out of the sovereigntists’ meeting in Madrid / The AUR leader accused of lying when he claimed to represent Romania at the summit together with the PNTCD / Far-right Spanish party VOX: This is the first time this has happened in our political history

AUR co-president George Simion was kicked out of the sovereigntists’ conference in Madrid over the weekend because he was not invited to the event, a spokesperson for the Spanish VOX party, which organized the conference, told G4Media.ro. VOX (far-right) representatives said they were „shocked” by Simion’s behavior, who was accused of lying in a series of Twitter posts in which he claimed he was representing Romania alongside the PNTCD at the sovereigntists’’ summit.

On the other hand, Simion denies that he was kicked out, claiming that he was staying at the hotel where the conference was held and that he had several meetings with Polish leaders and VOX. He explained to G4Media.ro that the Twitter posts claiming he was at the conference were not his, but his team’s, and that he would ask for them to be reviewed. Simion also tried to justify his comments by explaining that „Twitter posts are restricted to a character count”.

George Simion claimed in a series of Twitter posts that he was representing Romania at the sovereigntists’ conference in Madrid alongside the PNTCD, but his claims were vehemently denied by the organizers. Simion did, however, manage to take a photo with one of the VOX leaders, MEP Jorge Buxade, in the lobby of the VP Plaza España Design Hotel, where the conference was being held, which he posted on Twitter on Saturday with the following message:

„I congratulate my friend Jorge Buxade and the VOX party for organizing the summit in Madrid. We signed the joint declaration for the future of Europe as a union of sovereign nations. I hope we will meet again in Bucharest in mid-February.”

https://twitter.com/georgesimion/status/1487349500129722371?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1487349500129722371%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.g4media.ro%2Fexclusiv-cum-a-fost-dat-afara-george-simion-din-adunarea-suveranistilor-de-la-madrid-liderul-aur-acuzat-ca-a-mintit-cand-a-sustinut-ca-reprezinta-romania-la-summit-impreuna-cu-pntcd-partidu.html

„Mr Simion was not invited to the Madrid summit. It is correct that he was removed by security forces because he was not invited. He did not receive an invitation. We are not at all happy with this situation. Nor is it true that he signed the joint declaration unless he was hiding somewhere. We are shocked by this information. This is the first time this has happened in our political history,” Alonso de Mendoza, a spokesperson for the VOX delegation in the European Parliament, told G4Media.ro. He added that VOX is not participating in the AUR event, which is due to take place in February.

According to G4Media.ro sources, George Simion managed to get into the hotel where the summit was held by pretending to be the secretary of the PNTCD representative. The Spanish organizers said that no person by the name of Simion had been invited, so the security forces kicked him out of the sovereigntist conference, as confirmed by representatives of VOX, one of the organizers.

PNTCD President Aurelian Pavelescu confirmed for G4Media.ro that „he was questioned whether George Simion is in our delegation or not”. Pavelescu claims that Simion did not enter the conference with him and that he does not know how this happened, as the AUR co-president was not on the PNTCD list sent in advance to the organizers.

According to the G4Media.ro sources, Simion had insisted to VOX to receive an invitation to the Madrid summit, but the Spanish party representatives told him that all members of the conservative group must agree. However, FIDESZ is said to have opposed the participation of the AUR because of the anti-Hungarian statements of some of the AUR representatives.

Contacted by the G4Media.ro, FIDESZ representatives also stressed that George Simion was not invited to the conference in Madrid and did not sign the joint declaration, without saying whether FIDESZ was opposed to the participation of AUR.

„The VOX organizers should be asked about the circumstances of the AUR’s entry to the Madrid conference. One thing is certain: they were not invited and consequently did not sign the declaration”, Adam Samu Balasz, head of the FIDESZ secretariat on international affairs, told the G4Media.ro.

In an interview with the Hungarian publication Magyar Hyrlap, VOX MEP Jorge Buxade denied that George Simion had been invited to Madrid, saying that the only Romanian party invited to the conference was the PNȚCD.

„In connection with the meeting in Madrid, several media outlets wrote that AUR co-president George Simion was also present, and he announced this himself on Twitter. The politician even went to the Madrid meeting, but the only Romanian party invited to the conference was the PNȚ-CD, whose delegation also attended the event, through Aurelian Pavelescu”, said Jorge Buxadé for Magyar Hyrlap. Buxadé added that VOX does not get involved in the internal affairs of another state.

The VOX MEP also made the same comments after Simion posted several tweets on Saturday claiming to represent Romania at the sovereigntists’ summit. Buxade also tweeted on Saturday that only the PNȚCD was representing Romania at the Madrid summit.

Simion’s explanations for G4Media.ro

Rep: VOX spokesperson Alonso de Mendosa confirmed that you were kicked out of the Madrid conference because you were not invited. Who kicked you out and under what circumstances?

Simion: Nobody! I did not attend that conference. I had meetings with VOX, with Fratelli di Italia, with PiS.

Rep: Did you have meetings?

Simion: Yes. I didn’t attend the conference and I didn’t say anywhere as Tomis News quotes that I attended the conference.

Rep: Well let me tell you where you said you attended the conference. Right on your Twitter account on the 29th. Quote: „I congratulate my friend Jorge Buxadé for organizing the Madrid Summit. We signed the joint declaration for the future of Europe as sovereign states. I hope we will meet again in Bucharest in mid-February”.

Simion: Well, where did I say Mr. Tăpălagă?

Rep: How did you sign the joint declaration if you didn’t participate?

Simion: We signed it just like we signed the Warsaw one as a party without MEPs. Both in Warsaw and Madrid, parties with MEPs participated.

Rep: You claimed in another post that you represented Romania at the summit together with Mr Pavelescu.

Simion: (Pause) Understood. As an MEP party only the PNȚCD…

Rep: Yes, but you didn’t say that in your Twitter posts. You said that you participate and rep…

Simion: Twitter posts are limited to a number of characters. I was…

Rep: From what? What? I’m sorry, what did you say?

Simion: Twitter posts are restricted to a number of characters.

Rep: And what does the character count have to do with a lie you tell there?

Simon: (Pause) I don’t think, Mr. Tăpălagă, that I told any lie. I’ll send you a link to what I did in Madrid…

Rep: The links to the postings I have and you say you represent…

Simion: I had a meeting with Romanians there…

Rep: Wait a minute, let me get this straight. Never mind the meetings with Romanians. You say you represent Romania at the summit with Mr Pavelescu. That’s one thing. You say it word-by-word. And two: you say you signed the declaration. I mean, from all your Twitter posts, it is understood that you are attending the summit. What’s more, you announce before the summit that you are going to attend the summit, that you are on a plane on your way to the summit.

Simion: I am on the plane to meet with Romanians and I had bilateral meetings that I ask you to confirm with the following: with Mr. Buxadé from e.g. Spain, from VOX; with a Mr. Francesco Sommo from Fratelli di Italia, I will send you the exact name and with a PiS MEP, with Professor Dembiński.

Rep: So with Mr. Buxadé we checked, and his spokesman, Mr. Alonso de Mendosa, told us, in a quote, „It is correct the information that Mr. Simion was removed by the police because he was not invited. He received no invitation. We are not at all happy with this situation. Nor is it true that he signed the joint declaration. We are shocked by this information. This is the first time this has happened in our political history”. Please.

Simion: I will send you Mr Buxadé’s number to report on our meeting. It’s better to have Mr. Buxadé’s information…

Rep: I’ve cleared it with Mr. Buxadé. You had a meeting in the hotel lobby before Mr. Buxadé went to dinner and you took a picture that you posted (on Twitter – ed.). After this photo was posted, Mr Buxadé said that the only party that attended was the PNTCD, not you.

Simion: That’s what I’m telling you and I can confirm it.

Rep: Well yes, but…

Simion: The only party that attended the summit was the PNTCD.

Rep: Yes, but Mr. Buxadé also confirmed through his spokesperson that you were kicked out of the conference.

Simion: He is not. No, I don’t think Mr. Buxadé confirmed it, maybe his spokesperson.

Rep: Well yes, his spokesperson.

Simion: No. I’ll give you Mr. Buxadé’s phone number and you’ll settle the matter with him. Please, for accuracy.

Rep: However, the question is: how did you get into the sovereigntists conference since you were not invited?

Simion: I didn’t attend any conference, Mr. Tăpălagă.

Rep: Yes, you did. We have several sources confirming that you did attend the conference. That you didn’t attend, that’s clear, that you weren’t invited, but if you did go in, you were kicked out.

Simion: No, I didn’t, Mr. Tăpălagă.

Rep: Yes, you did. You were there. How not? But you said on Twitter that you were there.

Simion: We had three bilateral meetings.

Rep: But on Twitter you said you were representing Romania at the conference. No trilateral or bilateral meetings, as you said. (pause) You lied!

Simion: (Pause) I didn’t lie, Mr. Tăpălagă. That’s what you think. Well, you call us an extremist party…

Rep: No, no. I’m quoting you again. Forget it, it has nothing to do with the extremist party. I’m quoting you again…

Simion: That’s how my Twitter feed phrased it, but I told you what I did there, I told you I didn’t support anywhere. It’s also normal not to have participated in this event.

Rep: The last question is whether it’s true that you came in claiming to be the secretary of the PNTCD representative.

Simion: (Pause) No.

Rep: Isn’t that true? But how did you get into the hotel, that I don’t understand? If you weren’t invited, however, how did you land there, that you couldn’t enter if you weren’t invited.

Simion: How did I get into the hotel? (pause) What, Mr. Tăpălagă? What’s the point? You can’t get into a hotel?

Rep: Where there’s an international conference where premiers are attending, 100% no.

Simion: (Pause) I’m telling you that you can and there was no problem.

Rep: Possibly if you do as you do, pretending to be someone else and that you’re invited.

Simion: No, no way. No way! I was staying at that hotel and had several meetings on the sidelines. I had no business at the actual event because we don’t have MEPs.

Rep: Which hotel did you stay at?

Simion: At the VP Plaza España Design.

Rep: Right, and this event was at which hotel?

Simion: At the VP Plaza España Design.

Rep: So you were staying in the same hotel as the event.

Simion: Of course I did.

Rep: And you were kicked out…

Simion: No, I didn’t get any ban, I didn’t pay any fine. These things can be verified…

Rep: But I didn’t say anything about a fine. I don’t know where you come up with the fine.

Simion: You know where from, you know where from.

Rep: I don’t know, Mr. Simion, I didn’t say anything about a fine.

Simion: (Pause) Yeah.

Rep: So, although you say on Twitter that you represented Romania at the summit, now you say you weren’t there.

Simion: That’s what I said on Free Europe and please quote me exactly. Two days ago I gave the same statement to Radio Free Europe that I am indicating to you, and I also said this to the Spanish journalists who interviewed me.

Rep: Yes, but you didn’t tell them and that on Twitter you wrote something completely different. And I quote your „short” Twitter posts.

Simion: It doesn’t say on Twitter that I participated.

Rep: Yes, it says that you represented Romania at the summit with Mr Pavelescu.

Simion: Yes, I want to …. with Mr Pavelescu I was there, including the meeting with the Romanians and I want you to quote me exactly. I’ll see what my Twitter team wrote, because you can see that I have accounts on all social networks and I don’t…

Rep: But these people publish on their own, like this? Do they attribute to you things you didn’t do?

Simion: Yeah, yeah. And that blacklist that you claimed was black, it was also them who posted it.

Rep: I got it. So as of now, everything we see on your Twitter and Facebook are not, in fact, your posts. We can say this – „this post is not Mr. Simion’s”.

Simion: (Pause) Uh, not entirely, you’ll have to check with me. You need to call me like you’re calling me now.

Rep: So all of these that we’re actually seeing are not yours:

Simon: Yeah. I have a team.

In a statement to Radio Free Europe, George Simion claimed that he didn’t make it to the event because „there was a meeting of the parliamentary groups in the European Parliament, Mr Orban fresh out of the Group of the European People’s Party (EPP Group) , those from the conservative group, ECR, and those from the extremist ID group. Only the parties with MEPs attended, we in the AUR do not have MEPs yet, we will have them in 2024” and that „we are not interested at the moment, as we have no MEPs.”

According to Radio Free Europe, „both in Poland and Hungary, where the most influential leaders of the conservative alliance – Prime Ministers Viktor Orban and Mateusz Morawiecki come from, the AUR is not looked upon favorably. In Budapest, the AUR is seen as far-right and anti-Hungarian, and the press considers it political suicide to ally with such a party.”

The first attempt to form a parliamentary group of conservatives and extremists took place in 2021 in Warsaw. And then George Simion went to the Polish capital and met with a number of politicians and signed the resolution resulting from that meeting.

„These are two different things. We are in the process of joining a European party – ECR Party – which translated is the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe and not the Alliance of Conservatives and Extremists. In this party we have passed all the stages of membership so far, successfully. We obtained a unanimous vote at the Steering Committee meeting,” Simion told Free Europe. The AUR co-president says the party still needs to receive the vote of the assembly of the component parties where it must gather a qualified majority (⅔ of the votes.)

According to the Radio Free Europe Libera, the Madrid summit was organized by Spain’s far-right Vox party, the third-largest political force in the Spanish parliament after the socialist PSOE and the center-right Partido Popular (PP). In addition to Orbán and Le Pen, other European leaders attending the summit included Marlene Svazek (Austria), Tom Van Grieken (Belgium), Krasimir Karakachanov (Bulgaria), Martin Helme (Estonia), Vincenzo Sofo, and Paolo Borchia (Italy). Valdemar Tomasevski (Lithuania), Rob Roos (Netherlands), and Aurelian Pavelescu (Romania).

Traducerea: Ovidiu Harfas