Romania’s entire transport infrastructure, including the port of Constanța, is being handed over to Ukraine at the expense of Romanian economic interests, at the behest of the EU, according to sovereignist propaganda.
NEWS REPORT: “Brothers, greetings! Everything happening right now, this whole political mess, is doing nothing more than laying the groundwork for the port of Constanța to be annexed to Ukraine's interests. Look at this logistics hub: governed by the illegitimate leader at Cotroceni and the illegitimate leader at Victoria Palace, it is simply subordinated to Ukraine’s interests, which seem never-ending in the political doctrine of those ruling us. On top of it all, Romania’s entire infrastructure, both road and rail, is being handed over to Ukraine, obviously for peanuts or maybe even free of charge, just to cater to the European Porte. The Great European Porte: Mrs. Ursula, Mr. Macron, and all those on the progressive side who are doing nothing but bringing Europe to its knees”.
NARRATIVE: The European Union has forced Romania to surrender its entire transport infrastructure to Ukraine.
PURPOSE: To fuel anti-Ukrainian and anti-European sentiment. To promote a “sovereignist” agenda, to undermine trust in public authorities, and incite as well as escalate social unrest.
Freight transit does not mean surrendering transport infrastructure
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: A former co-host of Antena Stars (a TV station focusing on celebrity gossip shows) claims in a video posted to his personal Facebook account that Romania's current political crisis aims to “annex” the port of Constanța to Ukraine's interests. The message goes on to allege that Romania's entire road and rail infrastructure is being placed at the Ukrainian state's disposal “for next to nothing or even free of charge” (the redundant phrasing belongs to the author), while political leaders in Bucharest, Paris and Brussels are allegedly acting against Romania's national interests. However, an analysis of Ștefan Manolache's claims reveals that his speech blends real facts with personal interpretations, sweeping generalizations and unsubstantiated allegations.
First of all, there is no official information or public document suggesting that the port of Constanța is set to be transferred, surrendered or administered by Ukraine. False narratives surrounding the port of Constanța have circulated publicly for years: some claimed that the Netherlands opposed Romania's entry into the Schengen Area because Constanța threatened the dominance of the port of Rotterdam; others, contradicting the very narrative analyzed today, alleged that the Netherlands conspired with Ukraine to destroy the port of Constanța. In fact, the largest port on the Black Sea remains a strategic asset owned by the Romanian state and managed by Romanian authorities. Neither the Romanian government, European institutions, nor Ukrainian authorities have announced any plan to change this status. The claim uses the term “annexation” in a metaphorical sense, while presenting it as an accurate description of reality. In legal and political terminology, annexation means seizing control over a territory or a strategic asset. In the case of the port of Constanța, no such process is taking place.
Admittedly, following the 2022 Russian invasion, the port of Constanța became a major transit hub for Ukrainian imports and exports. However, this happened because the European Union established the Solidarity Lanes to bypass war-related blockades on Ukrainian maritime shipping. These lanes encompass significant transport infrastructure networks across Romania, Poland and Germany alike. Yet, using a port to transit freight does not mean that the port belongs to or is controlled by the country using it.
Continuing his message, Manolache claims that “the port is governed by the illegitimate leader at Cotroceni and the illegitimate leader at Victoria Palace”, even though managing a state-owned company (regardless of its sector) falls outside the duties of a president or prime minister in virtually any country in the world. Furthermore, with varying degrees of subtlety, the former morning-show cook presents his personal views as facts. He fails to offer any legal grounding for the label “illegitimate” and willfully ignores the fact that in a constitutional state, institutional legitimacy is established by the Constitution, electoral law and court rulings, and not by political opinions. Repeatedly calling institutions “illegitimate” is a deliberate tactic to discredit state authorities before the audience can even evaluate the arguments presented. It is a common rhetorical technique used in polarizing political discourse.
This brings us to the assertion that “Romania's entire road and rail infrastructure is made available to Ukraine”, an obvious exaggeration built on the factual truth that Romania allows the transit of Ukrainian goods through its transport network. Claiming that “the entire infrastructure” is placed at Ukraine's disposal is a sweeping generalization out of touch with reality. National highways, railways, ports and border crossings continue to serve the Romanian economy, domestic transit, international trade and public travel. Ukrainian freight transit represents only one of many uses for this network. By using the phrase “entire infrastructure”, the author creates the false impression that Romanian interests have been abandoned at the expense of Ukraine's benefit, without offering any supporting data. Furthermore, to back the claims behind his redundant expression “for next to nothing or even free of charge”, the author offers no evidence that logistics services for transiting Ukrainian goods are provided free. Port transit involves port fees, cargo handling services, commercial contracts and operational costs. Similarly, rail transport incurs freight tariffs and contracts between carriers. Additionally, the European Union has funded projects to expand infrastructure capacity along the Solidarity Lanes specifically to cover the costs of increased traffic and improve logistics connections. The claim that everything is provided free of charge remains pure speculation in the absence of financial records or documents to support it.
Likewise, references to the “Great European Porte, Mrs. Ursula, and Mr. Macron”, as well as the “progressive side” (!!) that “does nothing but bring Europe to its knees”, are political opinions rather than factually verifiable statements. This reflects a “sovereignist” framing of European leaders and EU policies as deeply eroding Romania's independence and sovereignty, a narrative rooted in Russian meta-propaganda that claims Eastern European states are being colonized by the collective West.
Beyond the content itself, the message relies on several persuasive techniques frequently found in disinformation. The first is the use of highly charged emotional language. Terms like “annexation”, “illegitimate”, “brings Europe to its knees”, or “endless interests” are deliberately chosen to trigger outrage and fear before the audience can fact-check the claims. The second technique is presenting opinions as undisputed facts. Instead of phrasing statements with “there are suspicions” or “in his opinion”, the author asserts directly that events are happening as fact, without offering supporting documents, statistics or official statements. The third technique is excessive generalization. Expressions like “entire infrastructure”, “for nest to nothing” or “only for Ukraine” oversimplify a complex reality and strip away all nuance. Finally, the discourse takes a single real fact (the expanded role of the port of Constanța in transiting Ukrainian goods) and builds a far broader, unsubstantiated conclusion around it.
"The Taxi Prince": from celebrity cook to “investigative journalism” in obsolete publications
BACKGROUND: Ukraine and its struggle for SOVEREIGNTY remain central to Romanian media debates, which have been heavily targeted by Moscow-inspired sovereignist propaganda. The primary narratives pushed in this context focus on the alleged “persecution” of ethnic Romanians living in Ukraine and the military aid provided to Kyiv by authorities in Bucharest. Furthermore, Ukraine is blamed for most of Romania's current economic troubles, with narratives going so far as to claim that the country's fate is being decided in Kyiv with strong backing from the “globalist cabal” in Brussels.
A former fixture of the local celebrity scene (where he was known as “the taxi prince” because his family owned a well-known taxi company in Iași), Ștefan Manolache dabbled in media a few years ago by presenting recipes on an Antena Stars morning show. He later rebranded himself as an “investigative journalist” working for outlets that have since shut down (such as roreport.ro and glasulmunteniei.ro). His name was also linked to a news aggregator site, gazetarie.ro, though his exact role there and the extent of any successful investigative work he produced remain unclear. His father, Mircea Manolache, is a county councilor in Iași elected on the PSD ticket. In 2025, Ștefan Manolache escaped conviction in a drug trafficking case due to the statute of limitations, after the case stalled for 5 years at DIICOT (the anti-organized crime agency) and 3 years in court. However, the evidence presented by prosecutors pointed to his guilt, leading judges to order the confiscation of 13,500 lei earned from selling cannabis.
His current Facebook profile was created in June 2024, when Manolache initially ran as a self-styled “candidate for Parliament”, without specifying whether he was running on a party list or as an independent. Three months later, the “candidate” rebranded as a “political consultant”. From this position, during the run-up to the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, he launched sharp attacks against both AUR and USR, a party he claimed to have voted for in the 2024 local election. He described AUR as “the sum of all the filth accumulated in 35 years of Romanian politics” and called its leader, George Simion, “the dirtiest political animal Romania has seen since Iliescu”. In 2024, Manolache also claimed that “when I look at AUR supporters, I want to walk into a prison cell, lock myself up, and never come out”, urging voters to support only “an independent candidate”. Following the annulment of the 2024 presidential election, Manolache aligned himself increasingly with supporters of Călin Georgescu, praising his “presidential stature and delivery”. Along with his shift toward the Georgescu movement, Manolache began sharing “sovereignist” and anti-EU messages far more frequently. In a series of posts regarding the so-called “Vexler law”, the “taxi prince” also voiced several anti-Semitic views, inciting the public to protest in the streets to avoid being “oppressed” by Jewish people, “just like in the interwar period”. He also accused social media platforms of censoring him to suppress his freedom of speech in collusion with globalist elites. Naturally, his commentary could not leave out Ukraine, which he blames both for Romania's economic troubles and for refusing peace on Russia's terms.
Finally, despite posing as a practicing Orthodox Christian in the traditional Romanian spirit, Ștefan Manolache was awarded a Certificate of Merit for “dedication and service to the Church, community and fellow men” by the Wallachian Christian Orthodox Church Association (ABCOV). ABCOV is an independent entity unaffiliated with the Romanian Orthodox Church (BOR) and holds no canonical communion with the BOR or any major recognized Orthodox churches worldwide. Founded by a former priest defrocked by the BOR for “immorality and violent behavior”, the organization set up its own hierarchy (synod, bishops, metropolitan, etc.) in an attempt to spark a schism within BOR and build a parallel church. Media outlets in the 2000s dubbed it the “KGB Church” due to alleged ties between its founder, Ioan Preoteasa (renamed Ioan Valahul), and various religious organizations in Ukraine and Russia, as well as figures linked to ex-Soviet structures.
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