As in any crisis, there is an opportunity, I propose that we see in the year 2025 not just a mountain like a Golgotha that we will have to climb, bruises and bumps included, whether we want to or not. I propose that we also see what good it can bring us.
And the first thing has already happened since midnight.
Starting today, Romania is fully in the Schengen Area. This doesn't just mean more enjoyable vacations, easier travel for Romanians in the diaspora, or the feeling that we are no longer second-class citizens. So, it's not just about comfort.
It means significant economic benefits, those brought by the free movement of goods and those that will ensure the survival of the Schengen Area despite the challenges that arise. Abandoning it and the EU would cost the countries that now roll their eyes periodically a fortune.
Another possible good thing won't be obvious, but rather implicit, arising from suffering and only if we manage to embrace it. It's a kind of anti-populist vaccine.
Those who still believe in electoral promises of milk and honey, those who have not yet understood that there is no free lunch, only the meal you don't directly pay for, those who have not understood that economic rules are, in fact, simple, not different from those governing a family's life or a company's operation, will have the opportunity to discover the reality of things.
They will learn the cost of electoral populism and that what should be valued at the polls are not packages with nicely wrapped bows. At best, they are empty, unless they contain bills.
Valuable are realistic, well-explained plans that do not promise miracles overnight or solutions that leave you in awe. Common-sense solutions that can be applied in your own home to lead a good and stable life.
It will be an opportunity to understand that no politician, no government, is honorable with their own money brought from home. They are honorable with public funds, at best those that exist, most often those borrowed which become deficits, that is, debt and its associated interest.
And above all, it is to be understood that this kind of politics would not be so widespread if it were not successful. Politics, like any market, is pragmatic; the supply adapts to the demand. What is offered is what is sought, that is, votes.
And the solution is not to run from the classic lies of traditional parties to the exotic lies of extremists. None of them, from Georgescu to AUR, Șoșoacă, or any other independent Messiah, has a realistic plan for Romania.
They sell illusions, but of a different kind. Nostalgia for some sinister times, which some have forgotten, and others have not experienced, or the voracious nationalism, the Romanian exceptionalism that ignores how much Romania has developed since becoming an EU member.
A clear example was the grand trial at the High Court of Cassation and Justice regarding the annulment of the election annulment, absolutely hopeless from the beginning, considering that the decisions of the Constitutional Court are final and generally binding. Once pronounced, only the Constitutional Court itself can deactivate them.
But the trial was a huge PR exercise for extremists, led by Georgescu, an opportunity to display their entire arsenal of Legionnaire inspiration, somewhat caricatural compared to the original, according to the actors' abilities.
The expectation, tension, and frustration were intentionally maintained to be exploited electorally. And for this, people were lied to with an impossible expectation.
All of this can only be defended against by critical thinking; it must become the star of 2025. It is the vaccine.
The solution is not necessarily in the heart. The solution is in the brain. It should be balanced with reason and realism, what can and cannot be done.
And this is all the more important as we head towards the presidential elections again. With critical thinking, not unleashed emotions, we should judge what a president can and cannot do, and from this perspective, the electoral offer of the candidates should be evaluated.
It won't be an easy year, but if we understand what needs to be understood from it, it could become a crucial year for Romanian democracy. The year of the anti-populist vaccination.