Renew Europe President Valérie Hayer has come under fire for her outspoken support of pro-European candidate Nicușor Dan in Romania’s presidential election, with opponents accusing her of foreign interference.
Independent candidate Dan faces anti-establishment populist George Simion, of the Alliance for the Reunion of Romanians (AUR), in the final round of the presidential ballot on May 18. The AUR hopeful was the clear frontrunner after the first round of votes and has lead in the polls.
Hayer, a close ally of French President Emmanuel Macron, told French TV station Franceinfo ahead of the crucial election that she would “do everything on the ground” to ensure that Romania’s next president was “pro-European”.
“We are going to conduct an active campaign to make Romanians aware that there is an important democratic issue for the future of the country and of Europe,” said Hayer, who headed Renew’s list in the 2024 European elections.
“In other words, a pro-European project, respectful of values and the rule of law. Not a project that undermines the rule of law, like Viktor Orbán’s in Hungary, or aligns itself with pro-Russian positions supporting Vladimir Putin,” she said
Hayer pledged to rally support from the Romanian diaspora in France and said: “I will support the pro-European centrist candidate by organising meetings across several countries – including France – especially to encourage the Romanian community here to vote and continue building the European project that belongs to them and gives them economic, social and cultural opportunities.”
The Renew leader’s efforts to collect votes for her preferred candidate face an uphill battle with opinion polls indicating that Romanians abroad support Simion and his platform based on changing the policies that drove them to leave their home country in the first place.
Renew, Hayer’s political group in the European Parliament, has fully endorsed Dan and urged the Socialists to do the same but her declaration faced pushback from Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (RN) Party. Pierre Gentillet, a former candidate in the parliamentary election, wondered on X, “Is there no one to cry interference in a case like this? How strange that is“.
RN figurehead Le Pen took to X on May 11 to write, “In Romania, the presidential election was simply cancelled, with the blessing of the European Commission. I want to express here my full and complete support for George Simion, who came out on top in the first round last Sunday, with more than 40 per cent of the vote!”
Meanwhile, RN MEP Virginie Joron on the same medium said, “Interference: Hayer on the campaign trail in Romania. Who are these people kidding? As a reminder: it was the incumbent party that paid for a campaign on Tik Tok to boost the so-called ‘extreme’ parties to be sure of winning in the second round. All these false democrats are a danger to the voice of the people.”
While facing allegations of interference herself, Hayer has previously criticised others over foreign influence in European politics. In 2025, she accused Elon Musk of using X to interfere in the German elections through alleged algorithmic manipulation. She urged the EU to impose sanctions under the Digital Services Act, citing a need to combat disinformation and protect democratic values.
Both of Romania’s presidential candidates have drawn support from ideological allies across Europe. However, much of the international attention has shifted to the nationalist camp following the exclusion of former favourite Călin Georgescu, who was banned from running in a contentious decision by the Constitutional Court of Romania. Since then, fears about democratic backsliding in the country have intensified.