{"id":3974,"date":"2025-03-04T11:00:34","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T11:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=3974"},"modified":"2025-03-04T11:00:34","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T11:00:34","slug":"media-investigation-exposes-calin-georgescus-ties-to-soros-foundation-and-usaid-after-his-public-attacks-on-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=3974","title":{"rendered":"Media investigation exposes C\u0103lin Georgescu\u2019s ties to Soros Foundation and USAID, after his public attacks on them"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new investigation from independent journalists at Recorder<\/a> shows that far-right politician C\u0103lin Georgescu<\/strong>, who routinely accuses American-Hungarian billionaire George Soros of meddling in Romanian politics, partnered with the latter\u2019s Foundation and the USAID in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

The investigation\u00a0begins by noting that C\u0103lin Georgescu led NGOs focused on environmental and sustainable development issues: Tineretul Ecologist din Rom\u00e2nia (1990-1996) and the National Center for Sustainable Development, or CNDD (1997-2011). Before Romania joined the EU in 2007, these organizations were almost entirely funded by international sources, including the EU and the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID.<\/p>\n

The latter is now an anathema on the far-right in Romania and the United States, after the\u00a0Trump administration claimed<\/a>\u00a0it was a tool to finance far-left movements. The US president dismantled the organization and cut USD 60 billion in aid, doing away with programs that targeted ebola and HIV in Africa, among others.<\/p>\n

However, after the Romanian anti-communist Revolution of 1989, USAID money backed NGOs across Eastern Europe. C\u0103lin Georgescu even became embroiled in a scandal regarding financing from USAID.<\/p>\n

In the summer of 2003, Romania was set to receive a USD 35 million installment as part of the 2002-2006 Romania Assistance Strategy. A portion of the funds was meant to be managed through the National Center for Sustainable Development and the Federation of Local Authorities of Romania.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In June 2003, three USAID employees reported to the USAID Inspector General in the US that “after receiving the money, C\u0103lin Georgescu demanded that there be no oversight on their destination” and that they were “witnessing fund extortion.” The press reported that, up until that moment, Georgescu had received USD 215,000 in non-reimbursable funds from USAID. Amid this scandal, journalists portrayed C\u0103lin Georgescu as “an influential figure with connections” among politicians.<\/p>\n

USAID was not the only source of funding for Georgescu. In 1995, the local publication Jurnal bihorean noted that C\u0103lin Georgescu\u2019s Tineretul Ecologist and the Soros Foundation for an Open Society were organizing “Ecology Education Week” in four high schools in Oradea. The partnership between Georgescu\u2019s NGO and George Soros\u2019s foundation was carried out in connection with Earth Day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, C\u0103lin Georgescu claims that the “Soros network” has done great harm to Romania and that he will eradicate it on his first day as president. The label has been used to target his critics from the state apparatus and the non-governmental sector, but also in the press, with Georgescu\u2019s supporters making lists of those they claim, without proof, to have been paid by George Soros. The Soros Foundation for an Open Society, however, ceased operations in Romania in 2017.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Georgescu’s numerous connections to the USAID and Soros Foundation did not stop him from presenting himself as\u00a0a champion in the \u201canti-Soros\u201d fight during and after the 2024 presidential elections.<\/p>\n

radu@romania-insider.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

(Photo source:\u00a0LCVA<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Dreamstime.com<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new investigation from independent journalists at Recorder shows that far-right politician C\u0103lin Georgescu, who routinely accuses American-Hungarian billionaire George Soros of meddling in Romanian politics, partnered with the latter\u2019s Foundation and the USAID in the 1990s. The investigation\u00a0begins by noting that C\u0103lin Georgescu led NGOs focused on environmental and sustainable development issues: Tineretul Ecologist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3974\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}