Klaus Iohannis to Inform European Council on Russia’s Election Interference

By Alina Grigoras Last updated Dec 18, 2024

Get real time updates directly on you device, subscribe now.

While in Brussels today, President Klaus Iohannis announced he will inform the European Council about Russia’s interference in Romania’s elections and added that the Council members will adopt conclusions on this issue. The President stated that the secret services cannot spy on their own politicians, as this would bring Romania back to the era before 1989, with the former Securitate. He also mentioned that he will not resign and that the Constitutional Court did not extend his mandate, clarifying that the court emphasized the application of a specific article. Iohannis also discussed when he will call parties for consultations to form a new government.

“I will brief the members of the Council on the situation in Romania as a result of foreign interference in the electoral process. I will underline that this is not a threat only to Romania. All countries are exposed to this risk. It is clear that effective coordination is needed across the region to counter Russian hybrid attacks. We urgently need to develop tools and mechanisms.

I reiterate here, in Brussels, the message I have already stated: Romania is and will remain a country with a deep European and Euro-Atlantic vocation. Romania is a responsible democracy and a reliable partner. The reality is that Romania had an enormous problem and it coped with it. The reaction was immediate, strong and correct. The EU means values, principles, freedom, progress and prosperity for European citizens. It is not a perfect space, but if we do not constantly get involved in managing crises we will not be able to build a better future. Citizens want responsibility, effort, honesty and real concern from the political class. Perhaps this is the most important lesson after the hard lesson we have received in recent weeks and after a very complicated year, with many elections,” Iohannis stated.

Asked if it is anyone to blame, were measures taken to prevent the situation from recurring, the head of state mentioned he doesn’t hold anyone responsible.

“I do not hold anyone responsible because the intervention was so subtle and complex that practically most of what happened was found after the first round. Not everything, there were some issues that were noticed. There was a candidate who ran a campaign that cost zero, no one believes it. Networks have the obligation to mark candidates when there are elections and when they are no longer allowed to campaign, the network must stop the campaign.

The Central Electoral Bureau summoned TikTok to stop the campaign, the network did not comply with the summons, and the campaign continued. It is a serious violation of electoral legislation. Since it is not based in Europe, but in China, the network allowed itself to ignore it, and the BEC had no tools to constrain the network, just as the EU does not.

The foreign influence was found later, and here we had support from strategic partners who helped Romanian entities find out what happened. Blaming someone from us would not take us very far. In my opinion, the legislation needs to be improved. If the BEC finds that a candidate is breaking the law, it needs to have tools. There probably needs to be closer cooperation between the authorities and the institutions dealing with cybersecurity”.

The journalists showed that the Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE) report shows that there have been signals of such actions for more than two years and asked why weren’t the documents sent to the CCR right then.

“Not only the SIE, we have been discussing these issues in the council for years. But from knowing that this danger exists to finding out exactly what happened is a long way. Let no one imagine that these attacks are made with a signature, “With love from the East”,” replied President Iohannis.

“Everyone is aware that the problem exists, but from here to. preventing and remedying it is sometimes very complicated. No service can spy on its own politicians. You can’t ban a candidate because he talks strange things, if he doesn’t break the law, it seems that there were violations of the law in the area of anti-Semitism, legionary propaganda. Secret services are not allowed to follow politicians internally, we would immediately get to the old security, it is unacceptable. No one can afford to condemn election campaigns in a blanket manner because x or y intervened. CSAT has no role in the actual electoral process. I reacted when I received signals from the services that there was foreign interference. CSAT had to receive some documents and that took 4 days. After that CSAT publicly announced that there had been interference, that a social network had behaved illegally.

Subsequently, the documents were requested to be declassified, quite complex declassification actions were initiated and they were made public. The CSAT is prohibited from communicating documents to institutions other than those provided for by law, and the CCR is not among them.”

Asked if he had discussed these interference with Russia, the president replied: “No, I will not speak to the Russian side, but I will speak to the partners in the Council, I will explain in sufficient detail what happened, not only so that they understand the danger of Russian interference, but so that they understand that Romania reacted 100% legally. I want to be very clear, Romania reacted perfectly legally, constitutionally, quickly and removed the effects of a serious foreign interference. The Commission already has all the documents from Romania and has started an investigation against TikTok.”

Also asked why the Russian ambassador hadn’t been summoned for explanations, Iohannis said: “We know what happened, but after diplomatic procedures it is quite difficult to point the finger: you were there. In malicious attacks, attribution is very complicated because it can only be done if you have concrete and indubitable evidence, and in cyberspace it is very difficult to find something indubitable. But, from the way it was acted upon, from the way the entire operation was carried out, simultaneous attack on all the servers caught in the vote counting, these multiple actions cannot be carried out by individual actors. In the service area these behavior patterns are very well known and it is known who is acting in this regard and here it was Russia.“

“Our Constitution is very clear, expressly provided for in Article 82. It is not an interference on my part, but an article of the Constitution. The Constitutional Court did not extend my mandate, the Constitutional Court emphasized that this article exists and applies. The Constitutional Court said – attention, it is the law and the law applies. I can’t leave either. How can I leave if the Constitution tells me that I can’t leave? If I were to leave, I would leave by resigning. Of course, this is also possible, but I would only do this for a major public interest that cannot be resolved otherwise. I think the elections should be organized quite quickly. Delaying will not help. I hope that the new government is formed as quickly as possible and that this issue is clarified.”

DONATE: Support our work

In an ever changing and challenging world, the media is constantly struggling to resist. Romania Journal makes no exception. We’ve been informing you, our readers, for almost 10 years, as extensively as we can, but, as we reject any state funding and private advertising is scarce, we need your help to keep on going.
So, if you enjoy our work, you can contribute to endorse the Romania Journal team. Any amount is welcome, no strings attached. Choose to join with one of the following options:

Donate with PayPal

Donate by Bank Wire

Black Zonure SRL
UniCredit Bank. Swift: BACXROBU
RON: RO84 BACX 0000 0022 3589 1000
EURO: RO57 BACX 0000 0022 3589 1001
USD: RO30 BACX 0000 0022 3589 1002