Cristian Terheș is a former Greek-catholic priest, and he was previously a member of the Christian Democratic National Peasants’ Party (PNȚCD). He was a candidate on the lists of the Social Democrat Party (PSD), which has a nominally pro-European and socialist agenda but in fact, constantly exhibits socially conservative and often anti-democratic behaviour. The party has been associated with disregarding the norms and values of the European Union and with its actions of weakening judicial independence in the past years, drawing strong criticism from the EU.
In May 2020, he switched again from S&P to the ECR Group in the European Parliament.
He exhibits a similarly illiberal perspective as most EP members from the Social Democrat Party. On several occasions, he supported the so-called “Justice Reform” measures adopted by the Social Democratic Party, advancing the narrative that the people convicted for corruption charges in Romania were the victims of exaggerated scrutiny conducted to achieve political ends.
Terheș can be considered as the only genuine Eurosceptic Romanian MEP. He is a constant advocate of the “return of the sovereignty to the EU member states” and claims that the Brussels is constantly acting to impose its policies over those representing the interests of member states. He is a strong proponent of the “double-standard” and “EU dictate” narratives, condemning EU or Western “meddling” in the internal affairs of smaller Eastern European countries. Cristian Terheș presents the ecological transition as a hypocritical plan brought forward by wealthy EU countries that are not respecting the very measures they are trying to impose on others.
The ECR MEP is in favour of the laws effectively banning abortion in Poland while expressing harsh criticism towards illegitimate EU interferences on the issue. He has positioned himself against the conditioning of EU funds based on rule of law criteria, claiming that this is essentially a blackmail tool to be used in the future by Brussels to influence the sovereign will of member states.
Mr. Terheș holds US citizenship and has lived in the United States for many years. He shares some views that are characteristic to hardline American conservatives, holding sceptical views towards the Black Lives Matter protests in the United States, advocating for a tough response against China in light of the ongoing pandemic and for the firing of WHO Director-General, described as being “China’s lackey”, and rejecting the European Green Deal as nonsense.
(Updated: 13/7/2021)
