“Romania’s Trump Targets Foreign Companies”

In an interview with POLITICO, conducted at a friend’s residence in a village near Bucharest, Romanian populist politician and outspoken admirer of both Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump expressed his growing dissatisfaction with the influence of multinational corporations in Romania.

“If today, like the Romanian people, I pay for water, do you know where I pay? I pay to a French firm that didn’t invest, didn’t contribute even a nail, but collects the money,” he lamented. “I also pay a foreign company for natural gas. I pay for electricity from a foreign provider. I even buy my own gasoline, and where does my money go? To a foreigner as well,” Georgescu stated.

Elaborating on his plans to tackle foreign corporate dominance in key utility sectors, Georgescu criticized the privatization process that followed the fall of communism, which he claimed was riddled with corruption and mismanagement. He pledged to use his first 100 days in office to reclaim national assets that, in his view, had been unjustly handed over to foreign interests.

“My priority is that the Romanian people—not foreigners—should hold ownership in my country,” he declared.

When pressed on the scope of his ambitions to reverse privatizations, Georgescu reiterated his stance: “I’m talking about recovering what was privatized improperly. In Romania, no privatization is justified.”

Such a move would likely spark intense political and legal disputes, but Georgescu’s campaign rhetoric has consistently been marked by suspicion—and at times outright hostility—toward big business and multinational corporations. Moreover, he criticized U.S. defense contractors, accusing them of exacerbating the war in Ukraine by profiting from arms sales.

Georgescu’s populist stance and inflammatory remarks signal challenging battles ahead for Romania’s relationship with foreign investors and multinationals, as well as its role in regional geopolitics.