Romanian nationalist candidate George Simion, on a visit to Paris on Friday, accused French President Emmanuel Macron of interference in his country’s tense presidential election rerun.
Simion, head of Romania’s far-right AUR party, faces pro-EU Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan in a runoff on Sunday.
The vote is expected to be a tight battle that will be closely watched by Brussels, other European capitals, as well as Moscow and Washington.
Romania’s constitutional court in a shock move last year cancelled the elections after a previously little-known far-right candidate, Calin Georgescu, topped the first round.
The cancellation — rare in the EU — came after allegations of Russian meddling and a massive social media promotion of Georgescu, who was barred from this month’s rerun.
Romania’s far right has accused Paris and Brussels of being behind the annulment, which Simion has called a “coup d’etat”.
“My message is very clear: ‘Back off!’ It is not your job… to get involved with the free sovereign will of the Romanian people,” Simion said at a press conference in Paris flanked by French far-right MEP Marion Marechal.
“You are not an emperor, you are not loved even by the French people, so these attacks… are not what we should do in a united Europe, in the future European Union,” he said.
France’s minister for Europe, Benjamin Haddad, posted on X that he “deeply” deplored the “offensive remarks about France” and the spread of “false information”.
Simion comfortably topped a first round of voting on May 4, gaining close to 41 percent, but polls suggest that his rival Dan has since narrowed the gap.
Simion, 38, predicted that “on Sunday I will be the next president of Romania”, in a press conference broadcast live on his Facebook account.
“I’m not too nervous waiting for the results. We know what the results will be if the elections this time are fair and free,” he added.
Far-right parties across Europe are gaining ground, recording their best results ever since World War II.
“The MAGA wave is the only thing that will save Europe,” said Simion, a fan of US President Donald Trump and his slogan “Make America Great Again”.
The candidate, who wants to cut military aid to Kyiv, denied any closeness to Moscow, and said that, if elected, he would advocate a harder European position against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
“I am accused of being (Russian President) Vladimir Putin’s friend, that’s false. I come from a country where Russia has left only bad memories,” he said.