Crusader of the Orthodox Nation – The Populist Instrumentalization of Religion in Romania

Romania’s Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) was founded only in the fall of 2019, ahead of the 2020 local and legislative elections, where it gathered more than 9% of the vote. Despite being labelled a neofascist, anti-Semitic, pro-Russian and ethno-chauvinist, 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 illiberal leader, Orbán’s religious-nationalist rhetoric, where faith is instrumentalized to unite the people behind the party in an increasingly authoritarian regime. This way, 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 AUR makes Orthodoxy become a marker between “true Romanians” and the rest, 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 AUR and Orbán’s Fidesz, we show how AUR blends religion and nationalism in instrumental ways only to legitimize its radical populist stance and act as true defenders of traditional values and Christian religion to become crusader of the Orthodox nation.