Romanian MEP mocked for returning from Maduro inauguration empty-handed

Romanian bloggers mocked far-right MEP Diana Șoșoacă for attending Nicolás Maduro's inauguration but failing to get a proper picture with him.

Diana Șoșoacă, leader of the far-right 'SOS Romania party, travelled to Venezuela, where she attended the inauguration ceremony of Maduro on Friday, despite the European Parliament's position recognising his rival, Edmundo González Urrutia as the legitimate and democratically elected president of Venezuela.

Şoşoacă spent several days in Venezuela with several colleagues from SOS Romania. From the inauguration ceremony, Şoşoacă posted a photo of herself standing a few metres away from him.

Romanian bloggers mocked Şoşoacă, with one calling her a "lame duck" as other officials, such as the Russian envoy Vyacheslav Volodin, shook Maduro's hand and had proper meetings with him with photos appearing in several media.

In Venezuela, Šoşoacă reportedly met with, among others, the Venezuelan actor Fernando Carrillo, who starred in the soap opera Rosalinda.

Şoşoacă had presidential ambitions, but her candidacy for the presidential elections in Romania hit a snag when Romania's highest court barred her from running because of her anti-Semitic, anti-Western and pro-Russian public statements.

A lawyer by profession, Şoşoacă rose to prominence in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic with her virulent anti-vaccine message.

In 2024, she won a seat in the European Parliament, promising to call in a priest to sanctify the chamber and cleanse it of "devils".

Banned from mainstream Romanian television, she gained a significant following through social media, particularly on TikTok.

(Georgi Gotev | Euractiv)