Cozmin Gușă's announcement regarding his candidacy for the Capital City Hall, with the support of the AUR, created tensions in the leadership of the formation, the election of George Simion being disputed by party leaders. Political scientist Cristian Pârvulescu believes that Gușa has no chance, but he is trying to make his ideas known, while AUR is actually preparing for the autumn elections.
Cozmin Gușă could run for PMB, supported by AUR. Photo: Inquam
After political consultant Cozmin Guşă stated that he accepted George Simion's proposal to run for Bucharest, AUR first vice-president Marius Lulea publicly contradicted the party leader on Facebook: “It amuses me how much misinformation appears in the public space. Mihai Enache is the GOLD proposal for Bucharest City Hall, nothing has changed, he is the best solution, a professional for a European capital. We have a long-term project“.
And Claudiu Târziu, former co-president of AUR, had an interesting post on Facebook: “What a show the proximity of the elections provides! Sharks and sharks, mixed up, go around the well-rated parties, maybe catch something: public positions as sinecures, candidacies that will take them out of anonymity or put them back on the main stage, advertising contracts for scumbags…“.
Gușǎ – mayor, Simion – president
The clarifications come in the context in which Cozmin Gușă announced that he accepted a candidacy for the Capital City Hall, with one condition. “I spoke with George Simion, he reiterated the proposal regarding my candidacy with the support of the AUR and the conclusion was positive, I accepted to run for the General City Hall. (…) Another reason why I accepted was that, through my candidacy, whether I win or not, we would impose George Simion as a candidate for the Presidency“, stated Cozmin Gușă, in an interview for Realitatea Plus.
The President of the AUR previously explained that the party he leads is measuring several candidates for the Capital City Hall in the polls, although the candidacy of Mihai Enache has already been announced, rated with 6-10% polls in the intention to vote. “Cozmin Gușă is a sovereignist personality that we will probe (for Bucharest City Hall, editor's note). He doesn't do politics anymore, but I reserve this right to poll everyone“, specified George Simion.
After the complaints from AUR, an article appeared on the website solidnews.ro, controlled by the Gușa family, which suggests that Gușa is backing down. More precisely, a statement by George Simion is interpreted as a lack of acceptance of the presidential candidacy, a condition set by Gușa to be a candidate for PMB.
Who is Cozmin Gușa
Cozmin Gușă also ran for the Capital City Hall in 2008, from the PIN side, when he obtained only 5.9% of the votes of Bucharest residents.
Born in 1970, Guşǎ worked in the mass media, and in 2001 he was co-opted as general secretary of the PSD, during Adrian Năstase's government, but after two years he moved to the PD, where he was the campaign director of the former president Traian Basescu.
Elected deputy and head of the parliamentary group following the 2004 elections, he came into conflict with party leaders and President Traian Băsescu.
In 2005 he resigned and founded the National Initiative Party (PIN), together with Lavinia Șandru and Aurelian Pavelescu, but which would be absorbed in 2011 by the National Union for the Progress of Romania. In the period 2005-2008, Gușa was an independent deputy.
Over time, he was a consultant to Moldovan millionaire Vlad Plahotniuc, but also to Mircea Geoană (PSD), Traian Băsescu (PDL), Adrian Năstase (PSD), as well as to Marian Vanghelie, in the electoral campaigns in Romania , according to the information that appeared in the public space.
Gușă also advised Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu, when he was the owner of Realitatea, and in 2011, on the same day when the old owners (Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu and Liviu Luca) were arrested for embezzlement, he took over Petromservice.
In 2013, he acquired the majority stake in the television network Realitatea TV, together with Maricel Păcuraru, for which he was also a columnist until 2019, the year in which he returned to PSD for two weeks, being subsequently excluded from the formation.
Fines for pro-Russian speech
Known for his sovereignist speech, Cozmin Gușa has received several fines in recent years from the National Broadcasting Council (CNA) for the approaches in several shows presented on Gold FM, the radio station owned by his son, Andrei-Cosmin Gușa .
For example, the radio station was fined for Russian propaganda, at the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, after Cozmin Guşǎ stated that the war was invented for the benefit of the USA. “I don't think that what we did is Russian propaganda, but objectificatione”, was Andrei Guşǎ's reply, according to paginademedia.ro.
The station was fined for failing to provide impartial reporting in an August 2023 broadcast when it discussed “the alleged similarity between all forms of the anti-Covid-19 vaccine, both in terms of composition and adverse effects”, as well as about “the war in Ukraine and the alleged advantages that the US and Russia would have by prolonging it“, according to CNA.
The CNA also sanctioned the approach from an October 2023 show, on the subject of war: “Lat the beginning of the discussion, Cozmin Gușă (moderator) specified one of the topics of discussion with him, about the so-called “manipulation zones” and comparisons were made regarding the “Ukrainian war” and the situation in Israel, and in this context , regarding the reported issues, Aurelian Popa (guest) made statements about “the Bucea massacre“, claiming, among other things, that the deceased were actually “placed there”.
What Simion and Gușa are after
Contacted by Adevǎrul, political scientist Cristian Pârvulescu stated that Cozmin Gușă's chances at the Capital City Hall are small.
“Mr. Lulea is AUR, he is the one who created AUR, he founded it, he financed AUR, so it seems to me that there cannot be a difference of opinion between Mr. Lulea and Mr. Simion. (..) Au need profiling, so a scandal. You realize that Cozmin Gușa's chances are very small, to the point of derision. But it is an opportunity that in television studios other than those to which he had access, he would transmit the information he deemed necessary. We know that he is one of those who openly makes rather anti-Ukrainian propaganda. As a result, I expect him to use this candidacy for a political goal and not just to run. And what does Simion have to gain, beyond profiling, the fact that his ideas are promoted by others, and, why, not a hope that all these things could count for the elections in the fall. Because it is more and more clear that AUR and SOS will have modest results in the local elections, for reasons related to their reduced organizational capacity, they do not have local elected officials and they will not be able to do very many, and then they try by any means to reach that electorate that could become important in the fall election, and that's a channel he can use. I don't know how much it can mean, but in any case it will ensure some notoriety and visibility for the ideas and possibly even the person.
Mr. Gușă is certainly a very rational person, he will not use his own money to waste it, he cannot recover it. So it will simply convey certain ideas. (..) But the chance to profile certain ideas and to profile oneself is there. The idea is that each of those who will transmit similar ideas to AUR on different channels will reach different audiences and that way in the fall, in a round two, why not, they could unite.” the analyst stated.
