Bllionaire Elon Musk and US Vice-President J.D. Vance on Thursday launched forceful attacks on Romania’s decision to cancel its presidential election in December.
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Musk labelled the chief judge of the country’s top court a “tyrant”, while Vance said the cancellation meant Romania does not share American values.
Their remarks were the latest broadsides aimed at Bucharest by members of US President Donald Trump’s administration.
Romania’s Constitutional Court voided the election in December before a second round of voting, after declassified security documents showed suspicions of Russian interference in favour of far-right Nato critic Calin Georgescu, accusations denied by Moscow.
“The point that I try to make to our European friends is … that friendship is based on shared values,” Vance said at the opening of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
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“You don’t have shared values if you cancel elections because you don’t like the result, and that happened in Romania. If you’re so afraid of your own people that you silence them and shut them up.”
“So let’s have shared values. Let’s defend democracy. Let’s have free expression, not just in the United States, but all over the Western world. That is the path to strong alliances in Europe.”