Photo: Călin Georgescu on Facebook, March 1, 2025
MCC Brussels has submitted a formal complaint to the European Union’s Ombudsman regarding the European Commission’s refusal to disclose key documents related to Digital Services Act (DSA) proceedings concerning Romania’s canceled presidential elections from last year. In its Monday, April 28th press release MCC argued that voters deserve to know whether there was any foreign interference—either from Moscow or Brussels—before they go to the ballots again this weekend.
MCC Brussels later confirmed to this publication that the Ombudsman has admitted the case and will launch a probe into whether the Commission’s decision to withhold the information is lawful, but not in time to make any difference. Conveniently enough, the Ombudsman’s office assigned the case to an investigator who will be on leave until May 19th, while the second and final round of the election will take place just one day earlier, on May 18th.
The complaint follows multiple unanswered freedom of information requests from MCC Brussels regarding how the Commission was applying the DSA in Romania’s electoral context, which the think tank claims were refused based on exemptions that do not apply in this case under EU law.
🚨 The EU Commission talks transparency but hides DSA proceedings on Romania’s elections behind closed doors. MCC Brussels is calling them out with a formal complaint to the Ombudsman. Democracy deserves better.https://t.co/cTSkEMf2dl
— MCC Brussels (@MCC_Brussels) April 28, 2025
MCC Brussels began investigating after former Commissioner Thierry Breton—the EU’s so-called “censorship czar”— talked about widespread DSA enforcement in national elections to ward off “foreign interference,” and strongly hinted that EU pressure could have played a role in the Romanian decision to cancel last year’s election following the first round victory of nationalist candidate Călin Georgescu.
The European Commission did confirm to MCC Brussels that there are two DSA proceedings linked to TikTok and Romania at the moment, but argued that it cannot disclose documents about ongoing investigations. According to the think tank, however, this exemption does not apply when the disclosure is in “significant public interest”—as it is obviously the case now, with less than a week left until the election is repeated—particularly when it comes to potential foreign interference in a country’s democratic processes.
“The Commission’s habit of ignoring uncomfortable questions past legal deadlines is well documented,” MCC Brussels Director Frank Furedi noted, referring to, among others, the EU Court of Auditors’ recent ruling about the virtually non-existent EU transparency. As Furedi explained:
In this case, the timing is particularly suspect, with the next round of elections just days away. The Romanian people deserve to know what role the EU is playing in their democratic process. While we welcome the Ombudsman’s investigation, this must only be the beginning. Elected officials, the press, and the public must continue to demand accountability.
There’s not much known about these proceedings so far, apart from them looking at TikTok and Romania, and that they were launched by the EU Commission around the same time as the first round of the canceled election.
One additional detail that MCC found buried on the Commission’s website is that days before the election, Brussels instructed TikTok to monitor and save all information related to the campaign. This would imply two things: first, the Commission was at least expecting some kind of foreign interference campaign; and secondly, the Commission should have all the data needed to conclusively prove or disprove the claim of Russian interference.
As we also reported, the election was canceled by the since-resigned Romanian president, Klaus Iohannis, based on allegations from intelligence services that Georgescu’s campaign was massively boosted by Russia on TikTok, which resulted in him winning first place. However, despite hundreds of thousands protesting on the streets and all opposition parties (both Left and Right) demanding public disclosure, no conclusive evidence supporting this claim has been presented to Romanians to date.
Meanwhile, a report published by investigative journalists revealed that at least one of the main campaigns that allegedly supported Georgescu on behalf of Russia on TikTok was in fact paid for and organized by the center-right PNL—one of the main establishment parties in the current government and member of von der Leyen’s EPP group—in a failed attempt to divert votes from their main opponent.
I've been saying this for weeks.
— Tamás Orbán (@TamasOrbanEC) February 7, 2025
PNL, a member of @vonderleyen's EPP ran an undisclosed TikTok campaign to divert votes from PSD (S&D), and accidentally pushed @CG_Romania to first place. Then they canceled the election blaming Russia.
When will the @EPPGroup take responsibility? https://t.co/7rtYrausK7
The EU Commission’s DSA probe, therefore, should also offer some insight into whether this was truly the case. However, with the Ombudsman dragging her feet and delaying the investigation until right after the election, there is no chance the documents would be released in time to make any difference.
Although it’s worth noting that this would probably be the case even if the Ombudsman were taking the complaint seriously, as her rulings are not binding. The Previous Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, reprimanded the Commission (and von der Leyen personally) countless times for their violation of EU transparency rules, but she was ignored just as everyone else.
https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/mcc-eu-ombudsman-probe-romanias-election-annulment/