“The nightmare is real”: Nicu Ștefănuță warns after far right’s success in Saxony-Anhalt

“The nightmare is real,” Nicu Ștefănuță wrote after the far right took 44% of the vote in Germany’s Saxony-Anhalt, according to exit polls cited in the report. The independent vice-president of the European Parliament warned that the far-right wave is “as real as it gets everywhere in Europe.”

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The nightmare is real.

Ștefănuță said Viktor Orbán’s fall had been “the exception, not the rule.” He urged political opponents to stop relying on hopes that far-right candidates are overstated in opinion polls or that voters will ultimately reject them. In Romania, he said, Georgescu and Simion appeared to be the main political beneficiaries of the crisis, while others had been left weakened.

His message was practical and combative. “Don’t dream, plan,” he said, arguing that every European election would be “a fierce fight” won through organisation rather than wishes. Voters, he said, wanted a clear plan and personalities who could inspire them. They were less interested in abstract talk about democracy or the rule of law, concepts he said few people fully understood.

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The far-right wave is as real as it gets everywhere in Europe.

The far right, Ștefănuță argued, was attracting talent and presenting complete political plans, including candidates for regional prime minister. Opposition campaigns therefore needed detailed programmes and technically strong organisation. He also said voters cared most about everyday problems, not “stiff concepts.”

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Don’t dream, plan.

He linked the far right’s growth to government cuts and decisions that were poorly explained and appeared to target vulnerable people. He pointed to the German Socialists’ historic low in a state populated by industrial workers, and warned that what happens in Europe can also happen in Romania. “The next one is France,” he concluded.

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The next one is France.