PANEL DISCUSSION 2025

George SIMION:
ROMANIA WANTS TO BE PART OF A WIDER CENTRAL EUROPE

Distinguished guests,

We have heard many concerns in the earlier speeches about the current European project. So I bring good news from Bucharest. Tomorrow, the largest Eastern Orthodox cathedral in the world will be consecrated, and it is a source of great pride for the Romanian nation.

We began work on this cathedral fifteen years ago. Our patriarch has been extremely efficient, and tomorrow we will consecrate it. I am proud to be here among friends and to walk on the streets of Prague.

More than half a century ago, during the Prague Spring, you raised your voices against communism, against totalitarianism, and against dictators who wanted to control us. On the first day of the conference, we also saw in Budapest a commemorative march celebrating the 1956 uprising. I cannot be more happier to see that, fifty-five years later, we still raise our voices and they have not managed to silence us. This is a source of great pride.

Yesterday at dinner, I spoke with many of you about the Visegrad Group, about the possibility of a V5 or even a V12 project. The Visegrad Group is a European project that we fully support and want to be part of. This is why I came to your great event. It is the first time Romania has participated in the conferences organised by Patrimonium Saint Adalberti.

Besides our great panelists you'll hear today, we also have distinguished guests. We've brought out the big guns, true heavy artillery: Professor Dan Dungaciu from the University of Bucharest and Mihail Neamțu, director of the Mihai Eminescu Institute and a member of parliament.

You spoke here about our right to decide our own policies. You spoke here today about democracy. In Romania, elections were annulled because the right person did not win. In Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Greece, and Bulgaria, we face strong pressures from the liberal media. Similar pressures appeared in the Polish elections, directed against the current president of the Polish Republic, Mr Karol Nawrocki.

Make no mistake: they do not want a president in Romania who opposes their plans. They do not want a minister of foreign affairs in the Czech Republic who opposes their plans. They do not want Karol Nawrocki as president of Poland, after he rejected the migration and asylum pact. They want us, as you said, to become second-class citizens who obey their orders and accept bigger brothers.

In the Budapest uprising, in the Prague Spring, and in the Romanian Revolution, we stood firmly against the idea of bigger brothers. We are not against the European Union; we simply do not agree with its current direction and with leaders such as Ursula von der Leyen and Emmanuel Macron.

Yesterday I had the pleasure to visit the beautiful Strahov Abbey with its amazing library and frescoes. Prague and the Czech Republic are among the cradles of our civilisation, just as Greece, Slovakia, and Poland are.

There are two types of churches: churches built of stone and churches made of people. This initiative and our shared efforts represent the church made of people. It will carry forward the future of Central Europe and Christian civilisation. It is our duty to work for this. I speak also as vice president of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party at European level, representing Mateusz Morawiecki, the president of ECR. When I say there is still hope, I mean that we must work together for our project, just as you imagine it, as our ancestors imagined it, and as Marshal Piłsudski imagined the Intermarium plan.

But also there is still hope for Western Europe. One month ago, I took part in a big march, a big demonstration, a big rally in the streets of London for the freedom of expression, titled Raise Your Colours. On the streets of London I could see that there is still hope for the British.

Yesterday, Ireland held presidential elections. Make no mistake: from west to east, and from north to south, democracy in EU countries is in danger. Only three candidates were allowed in the Irish presidential elections. No Eurorealist, no Eurosceptic, no voice outside their system was allowed. The Irish responded by spoiling their ballots, and we will see a surprise in today's announcement on participation and the number of spoiled votes. It was the only democratic form of protest available.

How can you get rid of a totalitarian regime when you are a Democrat and you pledge for democracy and freedom? It is difficult, but our parents and grandparents, who fought for freedom, managed to do it.

You asked whether this is what we wanted thirty-five years ago for our nations. I was three years old then, so I cannot speak for myself. But I can speak for my family. They wanted to be part of the Western world. They wanted to be part of the free world. They wanted to escape Marxism and Communism. And here we are, forty-five years later, and this is not a democracy. We are facing new forms of Marxism and communism, and we will fight them together. Please see our presence here at your conference as a sign of friendship and a commitment to be involved in the project you initiated.

It is the only hope for Europe and for our civilisation.

Thank you.