The Visa Waiver Program (VWP ) is a U.S. initiative that allows citizens of 41 countries to travel to the United States for tourism or business for up to 90 days without a traditional visa. Through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), travelers receive online approval as long as their country meets strict criteria for security, anti-terrorism cooperation and a low visa denial rate.
Italy, for example, has been a member of the program since its inception in 1986, cementing its status as one of Europe’s earliest members and granting its citizens this facility for nearly four decades. For years, Romania has been trying to achieve the same goal, but the dream of free travel to the U.S. remains distant, and the latest postponement has reignited internal controversy.
In Bucharest, on March 25, 2025, George Simion, leader of the AUR party and frontrunner in the presidential race, pointed the finger at the government after the announcement of yet another delay in joining the program. Simion claims he predicted this outcome as early as March 6, and accuses officials of hiding the truth from citizens. “I said weeks ago that this was going to happen. They called me an alarmist and a conspirator, but reality has caught up with the lies,” he said.
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and Foreign Minister Cătălin Predoiu attributed the postponement to “technical” problems related to changes in US migration policy. But Simion is not buying it, pointing to a suspicious coincidence: on the same day as the news, an investigation by the American press highlighted an increase in illegal Romanian migration at the northern US border. “They want us to believe that this is just a technical matter? The timing speaks for itself. When a country exports half its workforce and its young people flee in despair, the world takes notice, and not in a good way,” he said.
For Simion, the blame lies squarely with Romania’s political class: “Romanians are not emigrating for luxury,” he explained, “they are emigrating because their country has been emptied by incompetence, corruption, and a rigged system that serves only the privileged few. The Bucharest regime has made Romania unlivable for working people, and now its citizens are paying the consequences abroad.
While the government tries to shift the blame to domestic US politics, Simion insists that the problem has deep roots in national decline: “You can blame Trump or US policy changes, but the truth is that the world sees what our leaders pretend to ignore: a system where hard work doesn’t pay, EU funds don’t reach the people, and young people have no future,” he added.
With the 2025 presidential campaign in full swing, Simion promised to reverse this trend and restore dignity and opportunity to Romanians: “It didn’t start in Washington, it started in Bucharest. And it will end when Romanians say enough is enough. Romania must become a place to return to, not a place to run away from. The current system cannot do that: it is the system,” he concluded, making a direct appeal to voters.
