Key facts
- Dan Tanasa, AUR vice-president and lawmaker, faces trial for inciting hate speech.
- Prosecutors cited a social media post from August 2025 urging refusal of deliveries by foreign workers.
Romanian prosecutors on Thursday sent hard-right lawmaker Dan Tanasa to trial on charges of inciting hate speech and discrimination against foreign workers. Tanasa, vice-president of the Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR) party, allegedly urged followers in an August 2025 social media post to refuse deliveries by foreign workers and not encourage the import of laborers from Asia and Africa.
The trial of a prominent hard-right lawmaker on hate speech charges highlights tensions over immigration policy and labor in Romania and the broader European Union. The case could impact political discourse and foreign worker relations within the country.
Romanian prosecutors on Thursday sent hard-right lawmaker Dan Tanasa to trial on charges of inciting hate speech and discrimination against foreign workers. Tanasa, vice-president of the opposition Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR) party, allegedly urged followers in an August 2025 social media post to refuse deliveries by foreign workers and not encourage the import of laborers from Asia and Africa. He also expressed concern about Romania following the path of Western nations "drowning under the Islamic wave." Prosecutors stated his remarks incited discrimination and could damage relations between citizens, noting that parliamentary immunity does not cover the current case. A South Asian delivery worker was assaulted in Bucharest days after Tanasa's post, and a second worker was attacked months later near the capital. Tanasa rejected accusations that his comments encouraged the attacks. AUR called the prosecution an attack on free speech.
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