NATO Deputy Secretary Mircea Geoană Harnessing Position to Amplify Presidential Campaign in Romania – North Atlantic Alliance Officials Weigh In

As NATO Deputy Secretary, Mircea Geoană uses his trips and public outings to launch messages as a presidential candidate. In his last visit to Romania, Geoană visited the Cincu base (Brasov county), but used the opportunity to attend the last days of the Sibiu International Theatre Festival. Also there, he told Turnul Sfatului about a possible presidential candidacy that „I’m not saying I’m not interested”, a first admission that he is preparing for next year’s elections.

„The deputy secretary general travels regularly to represent NATO, including in recent months to France, Luxembourg, Norway, Romania and the United States. Travel costs for official visits are borne by NATO, while his private trips are self-financed,” a NATO official told G4Media.ro.

The problem is that Mircea Geoană mixes official visits with actions specific to a presidential candidate. When he visits military targets, he also uses the opportunity to carry out electoral actions. NATO officials have not responded to this issue. Here are questions sent by G4Media.ro to the North Atlantic Organisation:

• Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană is visiting Romania more and more often.
• Are accommodation and transport costs covered by NATO or out of his own pocket?
• How many visits has he made to Romania since the beginning of the year as NATO Secretary General?
• Does he travel as often to other NATO countries?
• In a recent interview with the local press, Mr Geoană said of a possible presidential candidacy: I am not saying I am not interested.
• Do you think there is a risk that Mr Geoană might use the NATO platform and resources for political campaigning in Romania?

The only response received is that given by a NATO official and published above.

In the last year, Mircea Geoană has repeatedly visited Romania, where he has visited a number of NATO objectives, and on several occasions, he has also made speeches at several universities in the country (Bucharest, Timisoara, Cluj-Napoca, Oradea, Craiova).

G4Media revealed in July 2022 that the former PSD leader is preparing to run for president. Sources said at the time that Mircea Geoană would also have a support committee for the campaign, which would be in particular in charge of his wife, Mihaela Geoană. Mircea Geoană’s term as NATO Deputy Secretary General, which he has held since autumn 2019, was extended in March by one year.

According to an Avangarde poll commissioned by the PSD last spring, Alexandru Rafila, Mircea Geoană and Nicolae Ciucă are in the top three places in terms of trust, all with 34%.

In October 2022, at an event organized by the Bucharest Academy of Economic Sciences, Mircea Geoană launched his own country project, entitled „Primenirea Ideii Naționale”, which is intended to be „a strategic compass for the next decade”.

His journey culminated last weekend at the FITS 2023 festival in Sibiu, where he declared for the first time that a presidential candidacy is not out of the question: „I’m not saying I’m not interested”. In the last two weeks, Mircea Geoană has made public outings to Sibiu, Timisoara, Oradea, Cluj-Napoca and Ciugud, where he visited various NATO targets or simply made press statements. G4Media has produced a timeline of Mircea Geoană’s media campaign over the last year.

• 2 July 2023. Mircea Geoană spoke about his intention to run in the presidential elections in Sibiu, where he attended the International Theatre Festival (FITS), where he was on an official visit as NATO Deputy Secretary General. „Until I make a final decision, I think there is no point in commenting more than necessary. I have said it and I repeat it and I say it in the most honest way, I have an obligation to serve this alliance that has given me such an important position, with everything I can and with everything I know and that’s what I do, and obviously as my mandate at NATO begins, it’s still extended, it’s true… (…) So, let’s let things take their natural course, they will settle down, in a way, I think for Romania too. I would say one more thing, there is a resynchronization of national political clocks, there are so many Romanian, European, and American elections. So, in a way, we are starting a whole cycle and obviously, there is a lot at stake. I’m not saying I’m not interested”, Mircea Geoană added.
• 30 June 2023. During his visit to Sibiu, Mircea Geoană went to NATO’s Multinational Corps South-East Command and met with the military of the NATO Battle Group at the National Training Centre in Cincu (Brașov County).
• 23 June 2023. Geoană attended the graduation ceremony of the faculties of the „King Michael I” University of Life Sciences in Timișoara, at the invitation of the management of the academic institution of Timișoara. He said that he sees Romania as a country of immense strategic relevance for the West, NATO and the European Union: „I have a very important position at NATO and it is absolutely normal and moral to focus on this very important position and to do my job as best I can until the end of my mandate. We will discuss the future in due course.”
• 22 June 2023. Geoană held at the Cris Country Museum (MTC) in Oradea, an international conference entitled „Vision, Innovation, Transformation”, an event moderated by the MTC manager, Prof. Gabriel Moisa, which took place in the series of cultural-scientific events of the institution. After his lecture, the guest answered several questions from the audience and journalists.
• 18 June 2023. NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană cycled for the first time along the Via Transilvanica between Ciugud and Alba Iulia, together with the Ușeriu brothers and other volunteers. „At Ciugud, we are always happy when we are visited by distinguished guests, even when the visit takes us a little by surprise. The Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Mr Mircea Geoană, is on a short visit to our community today. He wanted to see the Via Transilvanica and cycled a section of this tourist route. He had a short meeting (at the Via Transilvanica monument in Ciugud) with the initiators of this project, the mayor Gheorghe Damian and the president of CJ Alba, Ion Dumitrel, and then continued the route to Alba Iulia”, the Ciugud Town Hall said in a press release.

• 14 June 2023. Geoană met with entrepreneurs from the region in Cluj-Napoca at an event organized by the Aspen Institute Romania.
• 10 June 2023. Geoană spoke about the teachers’ strike in a press release. He said that „the basic problem regarding the education system in Romania is to give young people professional skills for the jobs of the future, which are already here today”, and regarding the teachers’ strike, he expressed his hope that the problem „will be solved as soon as possible, through dialogue and a constructive attitude, because children have to take their exams”.
• 27 May 2023. Geoană had his first reaction after his brother-in-law was placed under general arrest: „Even in complicated times, democratic values must prevail. Without exception, court decisions must be respected and carried out. Each of us is responsible for the decisions taken. Mihaela and I will continue to stand by our grandchildren and give them the support they need in these difficult times.”
• 13 April 2023. Mircea Geoană attended the Conference on the Security of the Black Sea Region in Bucharest and a conference organized at the University of Craiova, where he said that Romania’s current economic model no longer corresponds to the times we live in and paradoxically, after joining the EU and although we have had significant economic growth, the gaps between the regions of the country have increased.
  07 April 2023. Geoană visited the headquarters of the South-East Multinational Brigade in Craiova, which he said is „an excellent model of interoperability at NATO level”. After visiting the South-East Multinational Brigade in Craiova and giving a lecture at the University of Craiova on „Innovation, Transformation and Security – From a War Economy to a New Economic Model”, Mircea Geoană went to Mischii commune, where he visited the ClusterPower Company, which has built the largest data and artificial intelligence center in the region.
• 06 April 2023. Geoană attended the conference „Ethics in times of crisis and profound change”, organized by the University of Bucharest, where he said that Romania is more unequally developed than before European integration, there is now „a demographic cataclysm”, referring to the approximately five million Romanians who have left the country.
• 27 November 2022. Mircea Geoană told a conference in Cluj-Napoca that his interest in Romanian politics is „very low” and said that „talking about the big issues that concern Romanians, be they political, economic or social, has nothing to do with preparing any supposed candidacy”. However, Geoană also spoke in his speech about poverty, injustice and the need for a new social contract, political themes specific to candidates. The conference „The crisis of development inequalities. How do we transform economic growth into social welfare?” was organized by the Friederich Ebert Foundation and the Romania 2030 Association.
• 27 Oct. 2022 During a speech in Brussels for an event organized by ASE Bucharest, Mircea Geoană launched his own country project „Primenirea Ideii Naționale”, which is intended to be „a strategic compass for the next decade”. Asked by Libertatea if the speech is a new test for his possible presidential candidacy, Mircea Geoană said: „Two tough years are ahead. Not one winter, but two hard winters. So this is not the time to talk about a candidacy, which will be or will not be. What concerns me is how we are going to change something.”