France has faced a barrage of accusations of meddling in Romania's elections, even forcing its foreign intelligence service to publicly respond to claims published by the founder of the Telegram messaging app.
George Simion, a nationalist candidate and admirer of US President Donald Trump, had been the frontrunner for the Romanian presidency but lost out Sunday to the French-educated pro-EU mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan.
Read moreSurprise victory for pro-European candidate Nicusor Dan in tense Romania presidential vote rerun
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Europe has sought to beef up its eastern flank, and France leads NATO's multinational battle group in Romania of 1,200 troops.
The Romanian election took place after the Constitutional Court cancelled a previous vote just before the second round was to be held in December, after claims of Russian meddling in the victory of Calin Georgescu, a far-right ally of Simion.
Speaking on Friday at a news conference in Paris flanked by French far-right MEP Marion Maréchal, Simion accused French President Emmanuel Macron of interference.
"Hands off!" he shouted, denouncing what he called Macron's "dictatorial tendencies".
On Sunday, Pavel Durov, the Russian-born founder of the Telegram messaging service, published bombastic claims accusing the head of the French secret services of seeking to meddle in the Romanian election.
"This spring at the Salon des Batailles in the Hotel de Crillon, Nicolas Lerner, head of French intelligence, asked me to ban conservative voices in Romania ahead of elections. I refused," Durov, 40, said on X.
"We didn't block protesters in Russia, Belarus, or Iran. We won't start doing it in Europe."
The French intelligence service – made famous by the fictional hit TV series "The Bureau" – on Monday rejected Durov's claims.
"The DGSE strongly refutes allegations that requests to ban accounts linked to any electoral process were made on these occasions," the Directorate General for External Security said in a statement.
In congratulating Dan, Macron for his part appeared to allege a different kind of meddling to back Simion.
The French president posted on X that "despite numerous attempts at manipulation, Romanians made the choice tonight for democracy, the rule of law, and the European Union".
'Remind him firmly'
Durov was detained in Paris in 2024 and is under formal investigation by French authorities over illegal content on his popular service.
The French intelligence service confirmed it had been in contact with him.
"The DGSE states that it has indeed been obliged, on several occasions in recent years, to contact PD directly to remind him firmly of his company's responsibilities, and his own personal responsibilities, in terms of preventing terrorist and child pornography threats," it said.
Durov was detained at Le Bourget airport outside Paris in August 2024 and charged with a litany of violations related to the popular messaging app he founded.
After days of questioning, he was charged with several counts of failing to curb extremist and terrorist content and released on a five-million-euro ($5.6 million) bail.
Durov has since announced steps appearing to bow to Paris's demands.
'Favourable to Russia'
The Kremlin said Monday that claims of France's meddling were "not news".
"The fact that European countries – France, Great Britain, Germany – are interfering in the internal affairs of other countries is not news," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"These are just bits and pieces that are being brought to light."
George Scutaru, co-founder of the New Strategy Center, a Romanian think tank, said Russia was keen to undermine the credibility of France.
France has been one of the strongest supporters of Kyiv after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, 2022.
If a far-right candidate were to come to power in Bucharest and force Paris to withdraw its troops, NATO's position in Romania would be weakened, Scutaru said.
"This will be very favourable for Russia," he added.
Romania sits on huge gas reserves expected to make the country the biggest producer of gas in Europe, which has sought to reduce its reliance on Russian energy. The gas is expected to start flowing in 2027.
Paris, like other European capitals, has been nervously watching the rise of the far right, and Macron has vowed to block "extremists" from coming to power. Marine Le Pen's National Rally is now the largest single party in the French parliament.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)