Nicolae Rațiu, the son of politician and diplomat, Ion Rațiu, said Romania’s new president believes in the same values as his late father who is considered a symbol of democratic ideals.
“Nicușor Dan is a worthy president”, Mr. Ratiu said in a video message of the Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan who won Sunday’s presidential election.
However, he warned that George Simion who lost the race, will continue to be a danger, “who will tirelessly fulfill Putin’s will to destabilize Romania.”
He dedicated the outcome of the cliffhanger second round in which Dan staged a dramatic comeback to win with 53.6% of the vote, “in memory of my father,” who stood in the first post-communist election, but lost to Ion Iliescu, a former communist official.
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Ion Ratiu, who died in 2000, is considered a symbol of democratic ideals, integrity and unwavering dedication to Romania’s democratic evolution.
“This morning, I visited the grave of my father, Ion Rațiu, in our family’s cemetery in Turda, to thank him on behalf of all of you, for being with us when we needed him in the elections,” he said.
“Nicușor Dan is a dignified president, who supports values similar to those of Ion Rațiu. I wish him good luck. However, the battle is far from over. The Russians will not give up and will not disappear,” he said.
“ In Simion they have a champion who will tirelessly fulfill Putin’s will to destabilize Romania, as long as he can and allows him. The nation must defend itself against this at all costs. You have been warned,” Nicolae Rațiu said in the video posted on the page of the Center for Democracy in Turda.
Prior to the presidential runoff, Nicolae Rațiu endorsed Nicușor Dan for his “very clear vision for investments in key areas, where it is needed, to take the country forward, working alongside our allies in Europe,” which was “a completely different image from the isolated future that George Simion proposes.”
Ion Rațiu came third in the 1990 presidential election but remains a symbol of Romania’s post-communist history. He often called the “gentleman in the bow tie” that not many understood at the time.
He is especially remembered for phrase: “I will fight to the last drop of blood for your right to disagree with me” which serves as a call to communities to defend their rights.
He studied law in Cluj, and went into exile in Britain after World War II, where he studied Political Science and Economics at Cambridge.
Many Romanians, however, saw him as too Western and sophisticated for a confused and isolated people just emerging from decades of harsh communist rule .
