Enough water has flowed under the bridge: it is time to call a spade a spade. Romania has undergone a judicial coup.
Others have said so before me, sometimes at the risk of being censored. And yet, it comes as no surprise to anyone who has paid genuine attention to the events that unfolded in 2024 and 2025 in Romania, and which led the country into a democratic regression the likes of which had not been seen in Europe for a long time. A regression identified early on by The Economist, which, in its democracy index published last year, downgraded Romania to the status of “hybrid regime,” on account of the annulment of elections without valid grounds.
I recently had the opportunity to reflect more broadly on the mechanisms that produced this disaster. Part of the complexity of the subject lies in the series of actors who set themselves in motion to bring about the outcome observed in 2025. I will return to this subject in greater detail soon.
Among these actors are:
The European Commission;
a network of NGOs with no genuine civic base, often funded directly or indirectly by European public funds or by governments and foundations themselves recycling public money;
French diplomacy and the government of Mr. Macron;
and finally what Romanians call “the system” — a state within a state, with actors, methods and mechanisms largely inherited from the former Securitate, which was never dismantled.
While working on this subject and trying to understand the contribution of each of these actors, I felt the need to build a timeline making it possible to follow, from beginning to end, the entire sequence of democratic regression, as well as the wave of censorship, in a broader context spanning from spring 2024 to summer 2025.
You can access this timeline by clicking on the image or on this link.
The timeline takes the form of a web page that allows you to follow both events that took place abroad and others in Romania, some being the work of international actors and mechanisms, others of local actors, whether or not under the influence of the European Union.
You will also find a series of censorship cases that few people outside Romania have heard of.
I believe I have produced the most comprehensive overview of the subject while staying focused on the essentials — but if you feel that certain elements or events are missing, do not hesitate to let me know in comment.
Choose your preferred language: the timeline is available in English, Romanian and French.
Thank you for all you're doing