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Greater Romania Party

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Greater Romania Party
Partidul România Mare
PresidentVictor Iovici[1]
FounderCorneliu Vadim Tudor
Eugen Barbu
Founded20 June 1991
HeadquartersBucharest
Membership37,000 (2014 est.)
Ideology
Political positionSocially:
Right-wing to far-right[6][7]
Fiscally:
Left-wing[8]
ReligionRomanian Orthodoxy
National affiliationNational Identity Bloc in Europe
Colours  Blue
  Yellow
Senate
0 / 136
Chamber of Deputies
0 / 330
European Parliament
0 / 33
Mayors
0 / 3,176
[9]
County Councilors
0 / 1,338
[9]
Local Council Councilors
22 / 39,900
[9]
Website
partidulromaniamare.ropartidulromaniamare.com

The Greater Romania Party (Romanian: Partidul România Mare, PRM) is a Romanian far-right political party.[10] Founded in May 1991 by Eugen Barbu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor, it was led by the latter from that point until his death in September 2015.[11][12] The party is sometimes referred to in English as the Great Romania Party.

It briefly participated in government from 1993 to 1995 (in Nicolae Văcăroiu's cabinet). In 2000, Tudor received the second largest number of votes in Romania's presidential elections, partially as a result of protest votes lodged by Romanians frustrated with the fractionalisation and mixed performance of the 1996–2000 Romanian Democratic Convention (CDR) government. Tudor's second-place position ensured he would compete in the second round run-off against former president and Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) candidate Ion Iliescu, who won by a large margin. Parallels are often drawn with the situation in France two years later, when far-right National Rally (RN) party leader Jean-Marie Le Pen similarly drew the second largest number of votes and was elevated, but nevertheless defeated, in the presidential run-off against Jacques Chirac.

Although Tudor clearly remained the central figure in the PRM, in March 2005 he briefly stepped down from the party presidency in favour of Corneliu Ciontu. A primary objective of the move was to provide the appearance of a shift toward the political center and to attempt to align PRM with the European People's Party (EPP) bloc in the European Parliament. During this period the PRM also briefly changed its name to the Greater Romania's People Party. EPP, however, rejected the PRM as a potential member. Tudor stated he refused to join the EPP because of its lack of identity. In June 2005, Tudor asserted that he had decided the new leadership had distanced itself from the founding principles of the party, and he sacked the new leadership and reverted the party's name back to simply the "Greater Romania Party". In November 2005, Ciontu, along with a small faction of the PRM, formed their own party, the People's Party (PP), which has since merged with the New Generation Party (PNG).

In January 2007, with Romania's accession to the EU România Mare's five MEPs joined a group of far-right parties in the European Parliament that included the French National Rally (RN) and Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), giving them sufficient numbers to form an official bloc, called Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty.[13] Though due to disagreements, they left the group a few months later, causing its collapse.

History and ideology

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The party was founded in 1991 by Tudor, who was formerly known as a "court poet" of communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu,[14] and his literary mentor, the writer Eugen Barbu, one year after Tudor launched the România Mare weekly magazine, which remains the most important propaganda tool of the PRM. Tudor subsequently launched a companion daily newspaper called Tricolorul or Ziarul Tricolorul. The party claimed to be center-left and national.[15] (The historical expression Greater Romania refers to the idea of recreating the former Kingdom of Romania which existed during the interwar period. Having been the largest entity to bear the name of Romania, the frontiers were marked with the intent of uniting most territories inhabited by ethnic Romanians into a single country; and it is now a rallying cry for Romanian nationalists. Due to internal conditions under Communism after World War II, the expression's use was forbidden in publications until 1990, after the Romanian Revolution.) The party's initial success was partly attributed to the deep rootedness of Ceaușescu's national communism in Romania.[16] The party was accused of promoting anti-Romani sentiments.[17]

Both the ideology and the main political focus of the Greater Romania Party (PRM) are reflected in frequently strongly nationalistic articles written by Tudor. The party has called for the outlawing of the ethnic Hungarian party, the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), for allegedly plotting the secession of Transylvania.[18]

PRM promotes the idea of a "Greater Romania" that would bring together all the territories populated by Romanians in neighboring countries (Ukraine and Moldova).[19] It especially calls for the annexation of Moldova.[20]

The party has praised and shown nostalgia for both the military dictatorship of Axis ally Ion Antonescu, whom they consider a hero or even a saint,[21][22] and the communist regime of Ceaușescu.[23] The party rejected the 2006 Tismăneanu report on the communist dictatorship in Romania as a manipulation of history.[24]

In 2003, Tudor said he would no longer engage in discourse against Jews and Judaism or deny the Holocaust (see Corneliu Vadim Tudor). He also said that he had become, in his own words, a "philo-Semite". In subsequent months he and some of his supporters travelled to Poland to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp; and, despite strong objections from the family of slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and many Jewish organisations,[25] Tudor illegally erected a statue in memory of Rabin in the city of Braşov (for which he was found guilty and fined). During this period, Tudor hired Nati Meir, a Jewish advisor, who ran and won as a PRM candidate for the Romanian Chamber of Deputies. Tudor also hired an Israeli public relations firm, Arad Communications, to run his campaign.[26][27]

Economically, PRM proposes social-democratic measures, speaking of “the equality of chances for all citizens, human solidarity and family values” and of “the development of national economy as a condition for a decent living for all citizens” and being in favour of the state’s intervention in economy.[28]

In 2024, the current president of the party, Victor Iovici, declared that the party is "centrist, with a patriotic orientation" and that "it collaborates with both left-wing and right-wing patriotic parties, as long as they are moderate and not extremist".[29]

Party leaders

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Electoral history

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Legislative elections

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Election Chamber Senate Position Aftermath
Votes % Seats Votes % Seats
1992 424,061 3.89
16 / 341
 422,545 3.85
6 / 143
  6th  PDSR-PUNR-PRM-PSM government (1992–1996)
Endorsing PDSR-PUNR-PSM government (1996)
1996 545,430 4.46
19 / 343
 558,026 4.54
8 / 143
  5th  Opposition to CDR-USD-UDMR government (1996–2000)
2000 2,112,027 19.48
84 / 345
 2,288,483 21.01
37 / 140
  2nd  Opposition to PDSR minority government (2000–2004)
2004 1,316,751 12.92
48 / 332
 1,394,698 13.3
21 / 137
  3rd  Opposition to DA-PUR-UDMR government (2004–2007)
Opposition to PNL-UDMR minority government (2007–2008)
2008 217,595 3.16
0 / 334
 245,930 3.57
0 / 137
  5th  Extra-parliamentary opposition to PDL-PSD government (2008–2009)
Extra-parliamentary opposition to PDL-UNPR-UDMR government (2009–2012)
Extra-parliamentary endorsement for USL government (2012)
2012 92,382 1.25
0 / 412
 109,142 1.47
0 / 176
  5th  Extra-parliamentary endorsement for USL government (2012–2014)
Extra-parliamentary opposition to PSD-UNPR-UDMR-PC government (2014)
Extra-parliamentary endorsement for PSD-UNPR-ALDE government (2014–2015)
Extra-parliamentary opposition to the technocratic Cioloș Cabinet (2015–2017)
2016 73,264 1.04
0 / 329
 83,568 1.18
0 / 136
  8th  Extra-parliamentary opposition to PSD-ALDE government (2017–2019)
Extra-parliamentary endorsement to PSD minority government (2019)
Extra-parliamentary endorsement to PNL minority government (2019–2020)
2020 32,655 0.55
0 / 330
 38,475 0.65
0 / 136
  10th  Extra-parliamentary opposition to PNL-USR PLUS-UDMR government (2020–2021)

Local elections

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Election County Councilors (CJ) Mayors Local Councilors (CL) Popular vote % Position
Votes % Seats Votes % Seats Votes % Seats
2016 — —
0 / 1,434
 — —
0 / 3,186
 — —
141 / 40,067
 — — N/A
2020 27,279 0.38
0 / 1,340
 11,693 0.14
0 / 3,176
 20,928 0.26
31 / 39,900
 — —  22nd 

Presidential elections

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Election Candidate First round Second round
Votes Percentage Position Votes Percentage Position
1992 did not compete
1996 Corneliu Vadim Tudor 597,508
4.7%
  5th 
2000 Corneliu Vadim Tudor 3,178,293
28.3%
  2nd  3,324,247
33.2%
  2nd 
2004 Corneliu Vadim Tudor 1,313,714
12.6%
  3rd 
2009 Corneliu Vadim Tudor 540,380
5.56%
  4th 
2014 Corneliu Vadim Tudor 349,416
3.68%
  7th 
2019 did not compete
2024 did not compete

European elections

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Election Votes Percentage MEPs Position EU Party EP Group
2007 212,596 4.15%
0 / 32
  7th  — —
2009 419,094 8.65%
2 / 33
  5th 1 — NI
2014 150,484 2.70%
0 / 32
  8th  — —
2019 did not compete
2024 59,272 0.66%
0 / 32
  10th  — —

Note:
1 PNG-CD competed on PRM ballot, thus gaining 1 MEP.

References

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  1. ^ "Partidul "România Mare" are o nouă conducere. Ce funcție ocupă fiica lui Vadim" [PRM has elected a new president.]. b1.ro (in Romanian). 13 November 2017.
  2. ^ "The Ideological Institutionalization of the Romanian Party System « Romanian Journal of Political Science".
  3. ^ "PRM vrea să obţină 13% la viitoarele alegeri, la nivel naţional". 13 July 2018.
  4. ^ "Kiss FM - Partidele care-ți arată că naționalismele de doi lei din România nu au apărut odată cu AUR". 20 July 2021.
  5. ^ "Vadim Tudor, atac violent la adresa ungurilor".
  6. ^ "Strategiile PRM de maximizare a capitalului electoral (1996-2005)". Archived from the original on 5 September 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  7. ^ "The Ideological Institutionalization of the Romanian Party System". Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  8. ^ "Partidul România Mare (PRM)". votez.info. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  9. ^ a b c https://prezenta.roaep.ro/locale09062024/romania/pv-final. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. ^ Janusz Bugajski (1995). Ethnic Politics in Eastern Europe: A Guide to Nationality Policies, Organizations, and Parties. M.E. Sharpe. p. 466. ISBN 978-0-7656-1911-2.
  11. ^ Alison Mutler (14 September 2015). "Corneliu Vadim Tudor, ultranationalist Romanian poet and politician, dies at 65". The Washington Post. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  12. ^ Alina Novăceanu (14 September 2015). "Corneliu Vadim Tudor, de la PCR la PRM, candidat de cinci ori la președinție". Mediafax. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  13. ^ Traynor, Ian (8 January 2007). "Romania's first gift to the European Union - a caucus of neo-fascists and Holocaust deniers". The Guardian.
  14. ^ Verbeeck, Georgi; Hausleitner, Mariana (2011), "Cultural Memory and Legal Responses: Holocaust Denial in Belgium and Romania", Facing the Catastrophe: Jews and Non-Jews in Europe During World War II, Berg, p. 238
  15. ^ "Dexonline".
  16. ^ Shafir, Michael (2004), "Memories, Memorials and Membership: Romanian Utilitarian Anti-Semitism and Marshal Antonescu", Romania Since 1989: Politics, Economics, and Society, Lexington Books, p. 71
  17. ^ https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/ro%7Dprm.html
  18. ^ Cinpoeș, Radu. "The Extreme Right in Contemporary Romania" (p. 5) October 2002. Accessed 31 July 2014.
  19. ^ Antonela Capelle-Pogacean and Nadège Ragaru (2006). "La dérive contestataire en Roumanie et en Bulgarie" (in French). No. 1054. Le courrier des pays de l'Est. pp. 44–51.
  20. ^ Minkenberg, Michael (2011-01-01). "A l'Est, l'obsession des frontières". Le Monde diplomatique (in French).
  21. ^ Shafir, Michael (2012), "Denying the Shoah in Post-Communist Eastern Europe", Holocaust Denial: The Politics of Perfidy, de Gruyter, p. 33
  22. ^ Gruber, Ruth Ellen (2002), "East-Central Europe", American Jewish Year Book 2002, American Jewish Committee, p. 471
  23. ^ Bugajski, Janusz (2000), "Nationalist Majority Parties: The Anatomy of Ethnic Domination in Central and Eastern Europe", The Politics of National Minority Participation in Post-Communist Europe, EastWest Institute, p. 75
  24. ^ Hogea, Alina, "Coming to Terms with the Communist Past in Romania: An Analysis of the Political and Media Discourse Concerning the Tismăneanu Report", Studies of Transition States and Societies, 2 (2): 22–23
  25. ^ "Dedication of Romanian Statue of Rabin a Ploy". Anti-Defamation League. 16 January 2004. Archived from the original on 2 June 2006. Retrieved 3 March 2006.
  26. ^ "Yad Vashem has issued the following statement regarding the business relationship between Israeli public relations entrepreneur Eyal Arad and the leader of the Greater Romania party, Vadim Tudor". Yad Vashem. 14 March 2004.
  27. ^ "APPEAL". The Romanian Jewish Community.
  28. ^ "The Ideological Institutionalization of the Romanian Party System « Romanian Journal of Political Science".
  29. ^ "(VIDEO) PRM SUSȚINE CANDIDAȚII PSD LA ALEGERILE LOCALE ÎN TELEORMAN". April 9, 2024.
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