Crusader of the Orthodox nation – The populist instrumentalization of religion in Romania

While populism has been on the rise in Europe for decades, the Romanian party scene was late to witness the emergence of a populist radical right-wing party. Romania’s Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) led by George Simion was founded only in the fall of 2019, ahead of the 2020 local and legislative elections. Yet it gathered more than 9% of the national vote, being also the most popular choice among Romanian emigrant communities in Europe. Despite being labelled a neofascist, anti-Semitic, and pro-Russian that is clearly against the Hungarian minority in Romania, the party reached almost 15% by the 2024 EP elections. The party manifesto states four main pillars define AUR, "family, nation, Christian faith, and liberty", yet we argue the party instrumentalizes religion only to reinforce its radical ethno-populist appeal. This echoes Hungary’s Fidesz and its leader Orbán’s religious-nationalist rhetoric, where faith is instrumentalized to unite the people behind the party. This way, Orthodox Christianity on the one hand becomes a symbol of cultural purity and resistance against perceived external threats, enhancing AUR’s appeal among nationalist voters; while on the other, Orthodox faith is the base to establish Romanian uniqueness with European Christian civilization. We argue AUR presents a paradox – it both looks down and up to Hungarians, its traditional ethnic “archenemy”. We analyze AUR’s political discourse and media campaigns to demonstrate how religion plays a central role in the “us vs. them” populist dynamic within the political narrative, not only to distinguish Hungarians from Romanians but to establish AUR’s primacy over other Romanian political parties. Adopting the Hungarian way, AUR makes Orthodoxy become a marker between “true Romanians” adopting an identitarian understanding of religion to strengthen its ethno-populist appeal – exactly as Orbán does with Christian faith in Hungary. At the same time, parading as defender of Orthodox faith, AUR uses what we call ‘reverse civilizationalism’ (Brubaker 2017) to present Romanian Orthodox identity competing, if not superior, to West European Christian civilization – something that resonates well with the substantial Romanian emigree community in Western Europe that votes for AUR. Drawing the parallel between the discursive strategies of Simion’s AUR and Orbán’s Fidesz, we show how AUR blends religion and nationalism in instrumental ways to legitimize its radical populist stance and act as true defenders of traditional values and Christian religion to become crusader of the Orthodox nation.