The Alliance for the Union of Romanians (, AUR) is a right-wing populist and far-right political party active in Romania, with a branch in the neighbouring Republic of Moldova too. It was founded in 2019 by George Simion and Claudiu Târziu and as of 2026, it is the second-largest party in both chambers of the Parliament of Romania, namely the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.
The party was founded in order to take part in the 2020 local and parliamentary elections in Romania, its main leader Simion formerly candidating in the 2019 European election in Romania as an independent candidate, failing to obtain a place as he did not receive the required number of votes. Despite almost no success localy, the party unexpectedly obtained 9% of the votes in the parliamentary elections, making it the fourth largest party in the Parliament. Four years later, it obtained 18% of the votes, making it the second largest party.
AUR's manifesto aims for the unification of all Romanians, particularly focusing on the union of Moldova and Romania. The AUR logo itself represents a map of Romania composed of a line depicting the actual border of the country and eight stars that are overextended in the right part as to include Moldova within that border too. George Simion has also been regularly seen in public wearing a pin with the map of the Kingdom of Romania at its 1918–1940 territorial apogee. Due to the promoted actions and speech from its members, the party has been described as conservative, far-right, fascist or neo-fascist (in particular, neo-Legionary), pro-Russian, pro-Israel, and as promoting anti-Hungarian sentiment.
The party has close ties with the Romanian Orthodox Church, and states that its four pillars are family, nation, Christian faith, and liberty.
History
Background and founding The Alliance for the Union of Romanians was formally established on 19 September 2019. Later, during the Great Union Day of Romania on 1 December 2019, its leader, George Simion, said the party's aims were to participate in the 2020 Romanian local and legislative elections of the country. Simion had up to this point been a campaigner for the unification of Romania and the Republic of Moldova. The party began as an anti-vaxx movement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Claudiu Târziu, who was co-president of the party along Simion until 27 March 2022, was a member of the Coalition for Family which unsuccessfully campaigned to ban gay marriage through constitutional change in a 2018 referendum.
On 26 June 2020, AUR condemned the disinterest of the Romanian authorities regarding the minority rights of the Romanians in Serbia and Ukraine and declared that it would fully support them once it entered the Romanian Parliament. Two days later, AUR also condemned the 80th anniversary of the annexation of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and the Hertsa region by the Soviet Union, declaring that "it is our obligation to regain our state". By July 2020, AUR counted 22 branches in Europe and North America for the Romanian diaspora. The first of these was established in Wolverhampton, in the United Kingdom. AUR was the only party in Romania that expressed support for Donald Trump in the lead-up to the 2020 United States presidential election.
During the 2020 Romanian local elections on 27 September, AUR won the mayoralty in three towns: Amara, Pufești, and Valea Lungă.
Election to Parliament and first legislature (2020–2024) In the 2020 Romanian legislative election, AUR obtained a high percentage of the votes, being called as the "surprise" of Romania. The results also increased the popularity of the party on the Internet. Many members of the Romanian Orthodox Church campaigned for the AUR during the 2020 Romanian legislative election.Gherghina, S., & Mișcoiu, S. (2022). Faith in a New Party: The Involvement of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the 2020 Election Campaign. Politics, Religion & Ideology, 23(2), 226–242. https://doi.org/10.1080/21567689.2022.2080669 The party came first among Romanians in Italy, the largest group of the Romanian diaspora, and ran a close second among Romanians in France and Romanians in Spain. It also scored first in Cyprus. AUR's candidate for prime minister was Călin Georgescu, who worked for the United Nations for 17 years. According to a statement released by AUR on 8 December 2020, 15,000 Romanians joined the party in just 24 hours. The party got 47 MPs in the 2020–2024 Romanian legislature.
The party achieved good results in rural areas of Moldavia and Dobruja, areas traditionally dominated by the other big parties. Its most significant percentages were in the counties where the Romanian Orthodox Church has a strong influence and a large number of practicing believers. These are Suceava (14.72%), Botoșani (14.62%), Neamț (14.4%), Constanța (14.2%), and Vrancea (13.43%). The party speculated the new communication channels (social networks) in a similar way to the Greater Romania Party (PRM) of the late 1990s - early 2000s, which used the newspaper "România Mare" (Greater Romania) as a communication channel, reaching high electoral scores. Another example is the People's Party – Dan Diaconescu (PP-DD), which was propelled with the help of the OTV television channel.
Recorder, a Romanian online publisher, argues that the election campaign of AUR has adapted to the rural environment, which lacks modern technology, relying more on messages desired by the masses than on a coherent ideology. In this way, they argue, in addition to a core of supporters who voted for radical messages, there is also the wider category of electorate strictly attracted by populist messages.
On 22 January 2021, Simion announced that the party would officially adhere at European level to the "European Conservatives and Reformists Party" after going on visits in Poland and Brussels, Belgium. Simion announced on 15 March 2021 that the AUR had intentions to start operating in the Republic of Moldova on the occasion of the Day of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania celebrated every 27 March. The party was officially launched, as previously stated, on 27 March 2021, and the elected president of the party was Vlad Bilețchi, a renowned Moldovan unionist. This new section of the AUR in Moldova later participated in the Moldovan snap parliamentary elections of 11 July 2021.
On 2 October 2021, AUR organised a 15,000–20,000 people-strong protest against COVID-19 restrictions at the Victory Square in Bucharest, drawing both national and international attention and being the most attended protest in Romania since the start of the pandemic. On 5 October 2021, a motion of no confidence initiated by AUR, but legally proposed by PSD, was passed with 281 votes, thus dismissing the Cîțu Cabinet.
On 27 March 2022, AUR held its first party congress at the Palace of the Parliament. On it, it was intended to elect the party's president. There were two candidates, Simion and Dănuț Aelenei, AUR deputy in the Constanța County. Aelenei claimed to have nominated himself with the simple intention of showing that AUR was a democratic party and that he did not intend to "expel" Simion from the party, admitting that he was less well-known compared to him. 784 voted for Simion and 38 for Aelenei, making Simion the party's sole president after having previously shared leadership with Târziu, who became president of the party's CNC. In November 2022, Simion met with Israel's ambassador to Romania, Reuven Azar. The encounter drew outrage from some Israelis and diaspora Jews, as AUR is officially boycotted by Israel due to its history of judeophobia. On 29 January 2023, Ramona-Ioana Bruynseels, a former candidate for the Humanist Power Party in the 2019 presidential election, joined AUR.
On 14 November 2023, at an AUR press conference, Lidia Vadim-Tudor (the daughter of the late Corneliu Vadim Tudor), former Minister for Business Environment Ilan Laufer (who is also the president of the National Identity Force), businessman Muhammad Murad, entrepreneur Sorin Constantinescu and Sorin Ilieșiu, as well as deputies Florică Calotă (who was elected on PNL list), Daniel Forea (elected on PSD list), Dumitru Viorel Focșa (elected on AUR, but later left) and senators Ovidiu Iosif Florean (elected on PNL list), Călin Gheorghe Matieș (elected on PSD list) and Vasilică Potecă (elected on PNL list) announced that they are joining AUR for the next election. Later, on 21 November, AUR announced, together with the Romanian Village Party, National Rebirth Alliance, Romanian Republican Party and National Peasants' Alliance the creation of a Sovereigntist Alliance to contest the 2024 Romanian parliamentary election. On 2 April 2024, Mihail Neamțu, former leader of the New Republic party, joined AUR.
In the 2024 European Parliament Election, AUR gained five seats in the EU Parliament, with a total of 6 seats, receiving 14.9% of the total votes. AUR previously held only 1 seat in the European Parliament. In the party's first local elections on 9 June 2024, AUR gained 10.7% for county councils and 9.5% for local councils.
Presidential elections and second legislature (2024–present) In the first round of the 2024 Romanian presidential election on 24 November, Simion received 13.9% of the vote, not preceding to the planned runoff on 8 December. However, the runoff was never held as due to accusations of Russian interference in favour of first round winner Călin Georgescu. In the 2024 parliamentary election a week later, AUR received 18% of the vote, becoming the second largest party in both houses of the Romanian Parliament.
The aftermath of the first presidential vote was controversial and led Romania to the brink of a political crisis, with AUR aligning itself with Georgescu, arranging protests in his favour.
Simion won the first round of the 2025 presidential election on 4 May with 41% of the vote, losing the runoff on 18 May to Independent candidate Nicușor Dan with 46.4% against Dan's 53.6%. In early June, geopolitician Dan Dungaciu, lawyer Silvia Uscov and former SOS member joined AUR.
On 22 January 2026, Petru Gabriel Negrea, an AUR deputy and a bussinessman who had offered support to Ukrainian refugees, stated he had been banned from entering Ukraine. He stated that Ukrainian border authorities had verbally informed him that he was considered an "enemy of the Ukrainian people", with him having been detained "in degrading conditions and physically pushed across the border", adding he had been forced to fully undress for a body search, which he described as deliberate humiliation. The deputy attributed this treatment to his public defense of the rights of the ethnic Romanians in Ukraine, and pointed out double standards as Romanian support for Ukraine in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian war took place while the Romanian minority in Ukraine was at the same time being "abandoned" as Negrea described it. AUR stated on 25 January it would submit official requests regarding the case to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania and the Ukrainian embassy in Romania.
Ideology The party claims it is a centre-right, patriotic, and Christian democratic party. However, it is described as far-right by third-party sources.
According to the party's website, AUR's ultimate goal is to achieve the unification of all Romanians "wherever they are located, in Bucharest, Iași, Timișoara, Cernăuți, Timoc, Voivodina, Italy, or Spain", while wanting to unite Romania and Moldova together, as well as land with Romanian speakers in neighboring countries. The party has been called irredentist.