On Thursday afternoon, transporters and farmers broke into Bucharest with tractors and trucks to protest the government, but were blocked by police on the outskirts of the capital, in Ciazna. AUR leader George Simion and Senator Diana Shoshoka arrived there, claiming that they wanted to convince the gendarmes to allow the demonstrators access to the city. It was reported in the press that the protest was organized by AUR. George Simion, the protesters and the leader of FORT deny this.

According to government sources quoted by TVR, AUR party leaders are behind the protests.

The president of the Federation of Romanian Transport Operators (FORT), Augustin Hagiu, contacted HotNews.ro on Thursday evening, denying that he is a member of the AUR or that he has been offered to run for the party led by George Simion.

“I am not a member of the AUR and I have no obligations or any promises to the AUR in this year’s elections. I founded the Greater Romania party in 2016, and my last candidacy in politics was in 2018 in the parliamentary elections in Vaslui on the platform of PP-USL (Dana Voiculescu’s party, no),” Hagiu said.

The FORT leader told HotNews.ro that he sympathizes with AUR, the group led by George Simion, and SOS Romania, the party founded by Diana Shoshoeke after she was expelled from AUR.

“Yes, I am 100% nationalist and sovereignist, and I personally sympathize with AUR and SOS Romania, which I support and will vote for. but as the leader of the employers I have in no way mixed this protest with any political interest. I believe that this firecracker thrown in the media was an attempt to discredit both me and the legitimate demands of the protesters. In the FORT federation, which I lead, we have members who own transport companies and belong to all parties: PSD, PNL, USR, UDMR, AUR, Forța Dreptei, etc.,” Augustin Hagiu told HotNews.ro.

Augustin Hagiu did not participate in the government consultations on Thursday, FORT sent another representative. The carriers were also represented by Florin Tomuce, vice-president of COTAR and founding member of the Association of Road Transport Operators “Apulum”. He owns a transport company and is the president of PSD Alba Iulia.

AUR President George Simion went on Thursday evening to transporters and farmers protesting at the entrance to the capital and asked the gendarmes to allow them access to Bucharest with tractors.

Some of the protesters booed him and asked him to leave, accusing him of trying to get votes.

The leader of the Ukrainian SSR said that law enforcement officers had committed abuses by blocking transporters in Kiain, saying it was the people’s right to protest.

“I am a Romanian MP, why are you blocking them? Is this how you received orders from Čolak and Preda, from your minister of internal affairs? Shame on you. It is their right to protest, protests were organized with transporters, protests with tractors were organized earlier. We will also be in Piaţa Victoriei, at this moment there are abuses, people are blocked and they are not allowed to protest. I am here to make sure that the gendarmerie let them through and do not legitimize those in Victory Square. I’ll make sure you leave them in the cars they came in,” said Simion.

Later, another political leader came to the protest. Senator Diana Shoshoeke asked the gendarmes to show her the order banning demonstrators from entering Bucharest.

The protesters also rejected Diana Shoshoaka, Antena 3 reported. The farmers said they had no political affiliations and that they were peaceful, after Simion and Shoshoaka provoked the blockade to be broken.

They claim that George Simion and Diana Soshoake did not come for the demonstrators, but “for them, that the elections are coming” and that they “wanted to break the gendarme barricade”, but the protesters refused because “they don’t want to make a circus.

“We didn’t come to organize a circus, we came to create justice,” the farmer said.

The protesters said they did not want their grievances to be targeted for election purposes.

Representatives of carriers were received by the Government

On Thursday, representatives of the Prime Minister’s Office held a meeting in the Victoria Palace with representatives of carriers from all regions of Romania, during which it was agreed that the ministries and institutions with local authority should be informed about the issues raised.

“The dialogue between the two parties was aimed at analyzing the problems faced by the transport sector and solving specific situations that were raised during the meeting. According to the results of the consultations, an agreement was reached that the ministries and institutions related to the solution of the issues will be informed by the Office of the Prime Minister about the problems raised in order to find the most acceptable solutions,” the government’s press release states.

Thus, an agreement was reached that no later than the end of next week, a working meeting should be held between representatives of carriers who participated in government consultations and representatives of the State Financial Supervision Authority to discuss the identified issues regarding civil liability car insurance (RCA) and to find appropriate solutions to the problems, about reported by carriers.

Florin Spataru, Ovidiu Gheorghe and Daniel Botanoiu, State Councilors of the Prime Minister’s Office, participated in the meeting on behalf of the government and on behalf of the transporters, representatives appointed from all regions of the country.

On Thursday, vehicles from transport companies from all over the country took part in the protest, which started on Wednesday. Carriers are unhappy with fuel prices, increases in RCA policies and road tolls.

What farmers say

The representative professional organizations of farmers did not organize any demonstrations, and those who are protesting now – transporters joined by farmers, their claims are more personal, the Romanian Farmers’ Association (AFR) reported on Thursday.

“We consider what is happening on the street to be a spontaneous, unorganized rally. Representative professional organizations did not organize any demonstrations. Indeed, farmers are unhappy, primarily because of the poor results of the last agricultural year due to high prices for production inputs and low prices for agricultural products, and primarily because of the consequences of the war in Ukraine. Even the EU and government forums have not helped farmers much, some of whom are in a bankruptcy situation,” the AFR press release quoted Agerpres as saying.

According to the members of the association, the solution to the problem of farmers is dialogue.

“We have to hold meetings with government accountability factors. German farmers took to the streets over a 40% cut in the diesel subsidy, we won’t have it until 2026. Farmers who are members of professional organizations were not asked to go out on the streets. Transporters are now protesting, joined by farmers, their demands are more personal. We see solutions to farmers’ problems through dialogue, negotiations with state and European institutions,” AFR claims.