Challenging the Rule of Law in Romania: the Metamorphosis of Political Discourse Towards Populism as a Last Resort

Since 2016 and the electoral victory in general elections of the Social Democrat Party in Romania, polarization increased in Romania. Subsequently, several emergency ordinances (OUG) were proposed by the PSD to amend the judiciary system. In what people saw as a shift toward illiberalism, the Social Democrat alliance introduced in the public arena an articulation that followed the suit of the Visegrad countries concerning the justice system – one that crossed under the radar of academic scrutiny. To what extent the rhetoric of PSD adopted, internalized, and articulated a populist majoritarian constitutional-making from 2016 to 2019 to defend its illiberal swerves against the rule of law? This paper will employ a content analysis and code the talking points and rhetorical shift of PSD, i.e., invoking the people, the declaring a crisis, pitted against a form of the elite from 2015-2020 in speeches and press statements. The findings reveal that PSD shifted towards populism after each criminal investigation of its leading politicians. Moreover, they employ populist anti-elite rhetoric, by merging the 2016-2017 technocrat government's failures with the European Union by designating the context of a 'parallel state'. Additionally, PSD weaponized their fears vis-à-vis the current judiciary system by connecting it contextually with the former communist Romanian intelligence services, the Securitate. Finally, they presented a language that espoused that the fight against corruption impedes progress and development.