Far-right leader George Simion joins protest against law sanctioning fascist and Legionary acts / Protest takes place ahead of Simion’s scheduled U.S. visit

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Far-right leader George Simion announced on Wednesday that the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) will participate on Thursday, January 16, in a protest organized by Member of the European Parliament Claudiu Târziu against the so-called Vexler Law—a piece of legislation that strengthens penalties for fascist and Legionary-type activities. Târziu has previously made several neo-Legionary statements.

AUR’s decision to join the protest comes despite Simion having publicly committed in 2023, during a meeting with Israel’s ambassador, to condemning antisemitism and banning the public use of imagery associated with war criminals. The party’s participation in a rally opposing legislation that penalizes extremism takes place shortly before Simion’s announced visit to the United States.

“Let’s take this fight all the way. We will stand with every serious protest against the current coalition that unfolds in a national spirit. That is precisely why we are accepting the invitation to take part in the rally organized by Conservative Action against the Vexler Law and in any other protest. We will be there, shoulder to shoulder,” Simion said on Wednesday in a video posted on social media.

In the same video, Simion announced that he plans to visit the United States. Over the past year, he has actively sought contacts within the Trump political circle and has proposed that 2026 be celebrated in Romania as the “Year of the United States”.

A long record of links to neo-Legionary movements

George Simion has a long history of associations with neo-Legionary circles. During a broadcast on Realitatea Plus amid the May 2025 presidential campaign, Simion smiled approvingly and echoed remarks made by former neo-Legionary candidate Călin Georgescu as Georgescu quoted Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the founder of Romania’s Legionary Movement in the 1930s. The quote came from Codreanu’s 1935 book For the Legionaries, as reported at the time by G4Media.

Simion’s political rise was supported by Zoe Rădulescu, the daughter of the most prominent Legionary figure from Romania’s Dobrogea region—an area where AUR has posted its strongest electoral results in recent years. Rădulescu is also the mother-in-law of Eugen Sechila, an openly neo-Legionary activist who played a key behind-the-scenes role in the 2024 campaign of pro-Russian politician Călin Georgescu, according to an investigation by Info-Sud-Est.

Investigative outlet Context.ro has also identified several neo-Legionary figures within Simion’s broader political circle.

In 2022, AUR stated that the Holocaust in Romania was a “minor issue” and opposed proposals to introduce Holocaust education in the national school curriculum, describing them as an “ideological experiment” that would harm the education system. The party also voted against a parliamentary resolution condemning antisemitism and has praised Romanian fascist leaders from the Second World War era who were involved in the persecution and killing of Jews.

Several AUR leaders maintain ties to contemporary Romanian far-right networks inspired by the historical Iron Guard. These groups have repeatedly denied the responsibility of Romania’s wartime leader and Nazi collaborator Ion Antonescu for atrocities committed against Jews during the Holocaust. One of AUR’s prominent figures is Sorin Lavric, head of the party’s Senate group, who has publicly expressed neo-Legionary views.

In January 2022, Romania’s Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice announced the opening of a criminal investigation in rem into AUR for allegedly minimizing the Holocaust by describing it as a “minor issue”.

Attempts at image rehabilitation

Over the past two years, George Simion has sought to improve his public image by cultivating ties with right-wing Israeli politicians and downplaying AUR’s antisemitic reputation.

In August 2023, AUR announced in an English-language press release that Simion had met in the Romanian Parliament with Israeli Ambassador Reuven Azar and Yossi Dagan, a member of Israel’s ruling Likud party and head of the Shomron Regional Council. The release stated that Simion had “acknowledged Romania’s responsibility for the Holocaust of Romanian Jews”.

That same day, Ambassador Azar told Agerpres that Simion had agreed to issue a public statement containing four key commitments emphasized by the Israeli side: „1. Acknowledging Romania’s responsibility for the Holocaust against Romanian Jews during World War II; 2. Condemning antisemitism and adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism; 3. Prohibiting the public use of imagery associated with war criminals, particularly Ion Antonescu and 4. Supporting Holocaust education.”

Following the meeting, an AUR statement reiterated that Simion recognized Romania’s responsibility for the Holocaust and supported adopting the IHRA definition, as well as teaching this chapter of history in schools.

What the Vexler Law changes

Published in Romania’s Official Gazette on December 23, 2025, Law 241/2025—initiated by Silviu Vexler, a lawmaker representing Romania’s Jewish minority—amends Emergency Ordinance 31/2002 and Law 157/2018 concerning measures to combat antisemitism, according to an analysis by journalist Petru Clej.

• The law updates the title of Emergency Ordinance 31/2002 to explicitly refer to the prohibition of organizations, symbols, and acts of a fascist, Legionary, racist, or xenophobic nature.

• It expands legal definitions to include modern forms of propaganda, such as digital content, and clearly defines the Legionary Movement as a fascist organization active in Romania between 1927 and 1941.

• The law also criminalizes the public denial, justification, or minimization of the Holocaust on Romanian territory, punishable by six months to three years in prison.

• It aligns penalties and prohibitions concerning public monuments, street names, and institutions honoring war criminals or fascist leaders.

President Nicușor Dan initially challenged the law before Romania’s Constitutional Court, citing concerns over legal clarity. After the challenge was unanimously rejected and Parliament reaffirmed the law, Dan promulgated it nearly six months after its original adoption.

Despite concerns about potential abuses, only one final conviction has been issued under Romania’s anti-extremism legislation over the past 23 years. Law 241 does not substantially alter the core legal framework, making a significant shift in judicial practice unlikely.

First of all, the Vexler law modifies the title of Emergency Ordinance (OUG) 31/2002, the framework law, which is now named the “Ordinance on the prohibition of organizations, symbols, and acts of a fascist, Legionary, racist, or xenophobic nature and the promotion of the cult of persons guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.” The phrase “genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes” replaces the phrase “crimes against peace and mankind,” which was used in 1945–1946 during the trials of those accused of committing these offenses during the 1940–1944 period under the governments led by Ion Antonescu.

Article 1 of the Vexler law provides: “In order to prevent and combat incitement to national, racial, or religious hatred, discrimination, and the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, this emergency ordinance regulates the prohibition of organizations, symbols, materials, and acts of a fascist, Legionary, racist, or xenophobic nature and the promotion of the cult of persons guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes”—meaning the same change as in the title, replacing the phrase “crimes against peace and mankind.”

In Article 2, after letter b), a new letter b^1 is introduced, which provides: “fascist, Legionary, racist, or xenophobic materials mean: images, text messages, audio-video content, books, articles, other documents and propaganda materials, as well as other such representations that transmit fascist, Legionary, racist, or xenophobic ideas, concepts, or doctrines;”—an update to the medium through which the ideas mentioned in the law are propagated.

Also in Article 2, letters c and f are modified as follows: c) a person guilty of committing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes means any person definitively convicted by a Romanian or foreign court, or through any judgment recognized in Romania, according to the law, for one or more crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, as well as a person in the leadership of an organization whose criminal character was established by the judgment of an international criminal court; f) the Legionary Movement means a fascist organization from Romania that was active in the period 1927-1941 under the names “Legion of the Archangel Michael,” “Iron Guard,” and “Everything for the Country Party.”

In Art. 2 (c), the wording used in the title is updated, and in Art. 2 (f), the term Legionary Movement is specified, which some considered too vague. President Nicușor Dan challenged the law before the Constitutional Court on the grounds of the vagueness of this term, and after the unanimous rejection of the challenge, he returned the law to parliament for a new debate, requesting exactly the changes in this chapter. Both chambers re-adopted the law in its original form (votes against coming from the AUR, SOS Romania, and POT parties), and President Dan promulgated the law nearly six months after its initial adoption.

In articles 3–6, which provide sanctions for the offenses mentioned by the law, the length of sentences is changed. For instance, in Art. 3: “Initiating or establishing an organization of a fascist, Legionary, racist, or xenophobic nature, joining or supporting such a group in any form, constitutes a criminal offense and is punishable by imprisonment from 3 to 10 years and the prohibition of certain rights,” compared to 5 to 15 years in the old text of OUG 31/2002.

The introduction of paragraph 6.2 (1) also draws attention, which provides: “The denial, contesting, approval, justification, or evident minimization, by any means, in public, of the Holocaust on the territory of Romania or its effects is punishable by imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years and the prohibition of certain rights,” which removes any doubt as to whether the denial of the Holocaust in Romania is different from the denial of the Holocaust in general.

Articles 12 and 13 are also aligned with the changes in the title and provide: Art. 12 “The erection or maintenance in public places, with the exception of museums, of statues, sculptural groups, commemorative plaques, referring to persons guilty of committing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, as well as to persons who were part of the leadership of fascist, Legionary, racist, or xenophobic organizations, is prohibited.”

Art. 13 (1) “The granting or maintenance of the names of persons guilty of committing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, as well as of persons who were part of the leadership of fascist, Legionary, racist, or xenophobic organizations, to streets, boulevards, squares, markets, parks, or other public places is prohibited. (2) The granting or maintenance of the names of persons guilty of committing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, as well as of persons who were part of the leadership of fascist, Legionary, racist, or xenophobic organizations, to organizations, with or without legal personality, is also prohibited.”

In law 157/2018, the following modifications were introduced: Art. 2 (d) will have the following content: d) “antisemitic materials mean: images, text messages, audio-video content, books, articles, other documents and propaganda materials, as well as any other such representations that transmit ideas, concepts, or doctrines that promote antisemitism.”

Article 4: (1) Distributing or making available to the public, by any means, antisemitic materials constitutes a criminal offense and is punishable by imprisonment from one year to 5 years and the prohibition of certain rights. (2) If the act provided for in paragraph (1) is committed through a computer system, the special limits of the penalty are increased by half. (3) The act provided for in paragraph (1) or (2) does not constitute a criminal offense if it is committed in the interest of art or science, research, or education, or for the purpose of debating aspects of public interest.

President Dan expressed in his reservations regarding the Vexler law the concern that the law could lead to abusive convictions. But in the 23 years of existence of OUG 31/2002, only one final conviction was pronounced for the offenses of Legionary propaganda, apology of war criminals, or Holocaust denial: in 2022, the Bucharest Court of Appeal sentenced retired SRI Lt. Col. Vasile Zărnescu to… a warning, after the trial court had sentenced him to a 13-month suspended prison sentence, for the offense of Holocaust denial. Law 241 does not fundamentally change the meaning of the basic law OUG 31/2002, so it is hard to see how this legislative change could lead to a radically different situation.