It has been proposed that Romania withdraw from the European Union (EU), this sometimes being known as Roexit or Romexit [1] (with both being portmanteaus of "Romania" and "exit"). [2]
It has been proposed that Romania withdraw from the European Union (EU), this sometimes being known as Roexit or Romexit [1] (with both being portmanteaus of "Romania" and "exit"). [2]
In 2018, Daniel Dragomir, suggested on Facebook that Romania should leave the European Union (EU). Dragomir, a nationalist against the anti-corruption policies of the country and a former Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) member, stated that EU membership was affecting Romanian national sovereignty and that Brussels was "robbing from us". This statement has been proven to be false, as Romania then received more money than it gave to the EU. He said this after Frans Timmermans, Vice-President of the European Commission, criticized the justice reforms that were then taking place in Romania. Dragomir published a list of 10 reasons why the country should leave the EU. [3] [4]
Some political parties in Romania advocate the proposal as well. An example is Noua Dreaptă, a far-right party, opposes Romanian presence in the EU and NATO. [5]
However, some pro-EU politicians like Corina Crețu, a former European Commissioner for Regional Policy, criticized the idea, calling it a "luxury" and listing several moments in which the EU has helped the country. [6] Victor Negrescu, the then Romanian Minister Delegate for European Affairs, said the idea is not taken into account at political level in the country and that it has only been created to "stir controversy". He instead advocated for the integration of Romania in European politics. [2]
In December 2020, the Eurosceptic party Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), which has been described as far-right, entered the Romanian Parliament for the first time and became the 4th largest party in the country, although it is unclear whether it supports leaving the EU or not. [7]
In 2021, the senator Diana Iovanovici Șoșoacă, a former AUR member then affiliated with the Romanian Nationhood Party (PNR), expressed her support for a Romanian withdrawal from the EU. [8] Furthermore, some examples of non-politicians supporting this include Romanian actor Mihai Mălaimare , who expressed his support for the withdrawal of Romania from the EU in 2022; [9] and Romanian actor and director Dan Puric, who has affirmed that the EU will fall, that it has a neo-Marxist ideology, that it is opposed to Christianity and that it has the objective of harming Romania. [10]
Euroscepticism is generally not very popular among Romanians. According to a poll from 2015, 65.6% of Romanians thought that joining the EU had been beneficial for their country. This represented a very notable change compared to a 2013 poll; only 35% saw the EU as beneficial. Furthermore, 58% agreed with the adoption of the euro in 2015 compared to 35% in 2013. [11] Later, in a poll conducted in 2022, 71.1% of respondents said they would not vote to leave the EU compared with 25.2% who would, which again represented an increase of support to the EU among Romanians. [12]
Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek reform, to those who oppose EU membership and see the EU as unreformable. The opposite of Euroscepticism is known as pro-Europeanism.
The Social Democratic Party is the largest political party in Romania. It is also the largest social democratic political party in the country. It was founded by Ion Iliescu, Romania's first democratically elected president at the 1990 Romanian general election. It is currently part of the National Coalition for Romania (CNR), which is a big tent grand coalition comprising also the National Liberal Party (PNL). The CNR formerly included the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ) until mid June 2023.
Klaus Werner Iohannis is a Romanian politician, physicist, and former physics teacher who has been serving as the sixth president of Romania from 2014. He became the president of the National Liberal Party (PNL) in 2014, after previously serving as the leader of the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (FDGR/DFDR) between 2002 and 2013. Prior to entering national politics, he was a physics teacher at the Samuel von Brukenthal National College in his native Sibiu.
The unification of Moldova and Romania is a popular concept and hypothetical unification in the two countries that began during the Revolutions of 1989. The Romanian Revolution in 1989 and the independence of Moldova in 1991 further contributed to the development of a movement for the unification of the two Romanian-speaking countries. The question of reunification is recurrent in the public sphere of the two countries, often as a speculation, both as a goal and a danger. Though historically Romanian support for unification was high, a March 2022 survey following the Russian invasion of Ukraine indicated that only 11% of Romania's population supports an immediate union, while over 42% think it is not the right moment.
Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) provides for the possibility of an EU member state leaving the European Union "in accordance with its own constitutional requirements".
Brexit was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.
The People's Movement Party is an extra-parliamentary national-conservative and social conservative political party in Romania.
Dutch withdrawal from the European Union refers to the hypothesis that the Netherlands might withdraw from the European Union. The most recent opinion poll on the subject, in January 2020, showed a 33% minority favouring withdrawal.
Euroscepticism is a minority view in Ireland. Opinion polls held in the country between 2017 and 2024 indicated between 70% and 90% support for continued membership of the European Union (EU), and a 2021 'Eurobarometer' report indicating that 75% of poll respondents had a "positive image of the EU".
The accession of Moldova to the European Union (EU) is on the current agenda for future enlargement of the EU.
PRO Romania is an extra-parliamentary social liberal political party in Romania.
The 2024 European Parliament election in Romania was held on 9 June 2024. This was the fifth European Parliament election to be held in Romania since the country's accession to the European Union in 2007 and the first since Brexit.
The Alliance for the Union of Romanians is a right-wing populist and nationalist political party active in Romania and Moldova. It was founded on 19 September 2019 ahead of the 2020 Romanian local and legislative elections. The party president is George Simion. The party ran in the local elections, not obtaining many votes and only winning in three towns. However, in the legislative elections, the AUR won 9% of the votes in all of Romania and its diaspora, thus becoming the fourth-largest party in the country at the central level, which surprised observers.
A Polish withdrawal from the European Union, or Polexit, is the name given to a hypothetical Polish withdrawal from the European Union. The term was coined after Brexit, the process of Britain's withdrawal from the EU which took place between 2016 and 2020. Opinion polls held in the country, between 2016 and 2021, indicated majority support for continued membership of the European Union (EU). A 2022 survey indicated that "[at] least eight-in-ten adults in Poland" believed that the EU "promotes peace, democratic values and prosperity". The 2023 Polish parliamentary election was won by a coalition of predominantly pro-EU parties.
George Nicolae Simion is a Romanian right-wing politician and civic activist. He is the president of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), a Romanian political party that gained prominence after its unexpectedly strong showing in the 2020 Romanian legislative election.
Diana Iovanovici Șoșoacă is a Romanian lawyer, activist, and far-right politician. Șoșoacă rose to prominence as an anti-vaccine activist during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for S.O.S. Romania since her election in 2024.
Parliamentary elections were held in Romania on 1 December 2024. No party won a majority in the election, which saw the incumbent National Coalition for Romania, led by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL), lose their majority in both chambers of parliament alongside significant gains by far-right parties such as the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), S.O.S. Romania, and the Party of Young People (POT). Following the elections, a pro-European grand coalition government was formed between the PSD, the PNL, and the UDMR, with the support of the national minorities. On 23 December, Ciolacu’s second cabinet was inaugurated by a slim margin, with 240 votes out of 465 in favour.
It has been proposed that Hungary withdraw from the European Union (EU), a scenario sometimes referred to as Huxit, Huexit, Hunxit, and Hunexit, all being portmanteaus of "Hungary" and "exit". In Hungary, a member of the EU since 2004, right-wing populist politicians have drawn comparisons between the EU and the former Soviet Union (USSR), seen as a past oppressor in the country. Furthermore, democratic backsliding is a phenomenon present in Hungary. As a result, it has been suggested that Hungary should leave the EU.
Neo-Legionarism is a neo-fascist movement in Romania that emerged in the 1990s following the fall of communism in the country. It is endorsed by a series of organizations that claim to be the successors of the Iron Guard founded by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu in 1927. Its main characteristics include antisemitism, Eastern Orthodoxy, ethnic nationalism and mysticism.
S.O.S. Romania is a far-right political party in Romania that was founded in 2021. The party is considered to be a right-wing populist, socially conservative, and irredentist outfit. Additionally, the party is known for its Eurosceptic stance, and is considered more radical than the right-wing Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR). S.O.S Romania has been described as being closely tied to Russia. Since 2022, the party has been led by Diana Șoșoacă, then a member of the Senate of Romania, who had been elected on the AUR list.
The dictionary definition of Roexit at Wiktionary Withdrawal from the European Union | |
|---|---|
| Withdrawal of member state territories |
|
| Withdrawal of member states |
|
| Hypothesised | |
