EXCLUSIVE Central bank governor Isarescu touted for presidential run by far-right party AUR: Simion remains tight-lipped

Far-right party AUR has been courting Governor Mugur Isarescu, through intermediaries, for a possible presidential candidacy on behalf of the party, several political sources told G4Media.ro. AUR leader George Simion told G4Media.ro that he could not confirm nor deny this information.

„I can’t confirm or deny this information. AUR will come up with the candidate that Romanians want to be president and I assure you that our candidate will win in the 2nd round contest with the PSD/Marcel Ciolacu candidate that g4media also supports according to its editorial policy,” Simion told G4Media.ro.

Subsequently, the far-right party leader went live on his Facebook page where he said he was asked by G4Media.ro if Mugur Isărescu will be the AUR candidate for the presidency, but even in this intervention he did not clarify the information.

„They are very very scared of who is going to be the candidate and they have their orders,” Simion said in the Facebook Live broadcast.

„If there is not a massive mobilization to vote in 2024, Marcel Ciolacu will be the next president of Romania. If this doesn’t happen, the PSD will rule us for another 12 years from now,” the leader of the far-right AUR party added.

Background

AUR leader George Simion says his party has ten possible candidates for the presidential elections, but avoided saying whether he will run. He mentioned the names of Claudiu Tarziu, Cristian Terheș, Gheorghe Piperea, and from outside the party, Ioan Aurel Pop, Mircea Diaconu, Andrei Marga. Simion said only that the choice of the AUR presidential candidate, which will be announced after the European Parliament elections, depends on the profile of the contenders.

Mugur Isărescu, 74, has been at the head of the National Bank since 1990 and his term will expire in October 2024.

Asked in April whether he would still like to serve as NBR governor, Isărescu did not rule it out.

The governor said at the time that Parliament was deciding whether he would have another term at the head of the institution and said that by next year, when this would happen, the current moment, which he said was not an easy one, had to be overcome.

„Parliament decides. We are appointed by Parliament. Our mandate expires and it decides what will happen. Until then, let’s overcome the current moment, which is not easy,” the NBR governor said.

Mugur Isărescu was the CDR candidate in the 2000 presidential elections, when Ion Iliescu (PSD) and Corneliu Vadim Tudor (PRM) qualified for the second round. Mugur Isărescu came in fourth place with 9.5% and Theodor Stolojan, the PNL candidate, 11.7%.