Populists, extremists in Europe are Putin ‘lookalikes’, says Romanian PM

The European Union is witnessing a surge in popularity of right-wing populist forces that oppose support for Ukraine, Romanian prime minister Marcel Ciolacu told Bloomberg in an interview.

Mr Ciolacu said his government will forge ahead with "multi-dimensional support" for Ukraine even as European allies show signs of war fatigue, particularly with the Israel-Hamas conflict overshadowing Russia’s full-scale invasion. 

"Romania will continue to help Ukraine regardless of the political costs. These political costs are less important than the precedent a Russian victory would create," he pledged.

The Romanian premier pointed to the burst of support across Europe for right-wing and populist forces, many of whom have attacked governments’ support for Ukraine and lamented the broken ties with the Kremlin.

"Can you image how many Putin lookalikes we would get among certain populist European politicians?" Mr Ciolacu said.

"Let’s not forget that next year we have European parliament elections and should we see more extremist voices in the assembly—that would create a bigger vulnerability inside the EU."