Football boss Gigi Becali gets additional political backing

Gigi Becali owns the Romanian football team FC Steaua Bucharest and wants to become President of Romania. In 2004 he took over leadership of the 'Party of the New Generation', gave it a right-wing conservative orientation and has now engineered its fusion with the 'Environmental Party'. Michael Shafir comments. "Becali's party recruits its supporters mainly from the ranks of the ultra-right 'New Right' - but now it has put away its fascist uniform and adopted a modern ideology which - how revolting! - leans more towards the left. ... There's no doubt that Romania needs an environmental party. Hundreds of tonnes of plastic bottles were recently fished out of the Danube delta. ... But Romania hasn't been particularly lucky with its right-leaning 'Greens'. One can't help asking how the country can get rid of all its rubbish if everything here is dirty anyway."

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