US Vice President JD Vance has criticised Romania’s decision to cancel its presidential election late last year.
Speaking at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington on February 20, Vance condemned the annulment of Romania’s December 2024 ballot, arguing the decision does not align with “American values”.
“Friendship is based on shared values,” Vance declared. “You do not have shared values if you cancel elections because you don’t like the result – and that happened in Romania.”
His remarks were directed at Romania’s Constitutional Court, which scrapped the vote after declassified security documents alleged Russian interference in favour of hard-right NATO critic Călin Georgescu, who had won the first round. Moscow has denied the accusations.
Vance’s latest European broadside marked his third in recent days.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on February 14, he accused the EU of embracing censorship, referencing former European Commissioner Thierry Breton’s response to the Romanian election annulment.
“A former European Commissioner sounded delighted that the Romanian Government had just annulled an entire election,” Vance noted.
“The same could happen in Germany, too,” he warned as that country prepared for upcoming snap federal elections on February 23.
He also accused the EU of censorship on February 12 during the AI summit in Paris.
American Vice President JD Vance criticised the EU at the Munich Security Conference on February 14, accusing European nations of anti-democratic behaviour. https://t.co/pYdi5l8OKu
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) February 14, 2025
Speaking on February 20, French President Emmanuel Macron defended the Romanian authorities’ decision. He claimed the country’s Supreme Court had uncovered evidence of Russian meddling via social media and vote-buying operations.
“The Romanian Supreme Court massively identified that Russia through proxies, ie intermediary channels had manipulated the elections with the massive use of certain social networks,” he said.
Macron also dismissed Vance’s criticism and concerns regarding free speech in Europe.
“There’s a false discourse on the rise — the so-called defence of ‘free speech’,” he said.
“I heard JD Vance say he was shocked by the decision. For me, it’s not the decision that was shocking, but the fact that Russia interfered on such a massive scale,” he added.
The Romanian court’s decision to annul the election has been raised elsewhere.
The Venice Commission, a key legal advisory body for the Council of Europe, recently expressed concerns over the move and cast doubt on its legitimacy.
During CPAC, Vance also turned his sights on Germany, targeting the government for what he called its its heavy-handed approach to online speech.
“Germany’s entire defence is subsidised by the American taxpayer. There are thousands upon thousands of American troops in Germany today,” he pointed out.
“Do you think the American taxpayer is going to stand for that, if you get thrown in jail in Germany for posting a mean tweet? Of course not,” he said.
He emphasised that shared values were the foundation of US-European alliances.
“Let’s defend democracy. Let’s have free expression — not just in the United States but across the Western world. That is the path to strong alliances in Europe,” Vance said.
Meanwhile, Germany’s CDU/CSU candidate, poised to win the upcoming election, has warned that US billionaire Elon Musk could face consequences for alleged interference in German politics via his X platform.
With tensions between Washington and Brussels rising, Vance’s remarks could be seen as a portent that the transatlantic alliance may be heading towards greater turbulence.