"A very nice boomerang for Ursula von der Leyen": Marine Le Pen welcomes the far right's first place in Romania

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen welcomed the victory of far-right candidate George Simion in the first round of the Romanian presidential election on Monday, May 5, calling it "a very nice boomerang" for Europe.

"Romania has just given Ms. Von der Leyen a very nice boomerang," said the far-right MP on X, implicitly accusing the President of the European Commission of having influenced the cancellation of the first round of the election five months ago.

This shock cancellation, which deprived the nationalist camp of a victory, was pronounced by the Romanian Constitutional Court after a massive campaign on TikTok tainted by suspicions of Russian interference.

But several voices from the European far right, as well as US Vice President JD Vance, saw a European "conspiracy" behind this cancellation.

George Simion, a Eurosceptic fan of Donald Trump who dreams of becoming a "MAGA" (Make America Great Again) president, won 40.5% of the vote on Sunday, according to near-final results, and will face the centrist mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, (20.9%), in the second round scheduled for May 18.

He still needs to convert this into a victory in the second round on May 18, a complicated task given that he has fewer votes on paper than his rival. But he could take advantage of the fractures in the pro-European pole after a campaign marked by virulent accusations and backstabbing.

The surprise arrival in November of Calin Georgescu , a former senior official accused by his detractors of being pro-Kremlin, caused concern in the west of the continent and plunged Romania into turmoil.