Across the Western Balkans and beyond, the eye watering prices of food products have led citizens to successfully boycott supermarkets in the past two weeks.  In Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, sales were down to 30% or more. 

This weekend, Calin Georgescu, polls’ frontrunner in Romania, called on people to boycott foreign-owned supermarkets, “to support Romanian producers.” In November, the relatively unknown independent politician turned Tiktok star. Georgescu won the first round of the presidential election. However, the country’s top court then annulled the result over alleged Russian interference. 

How has Georgescu’s platform changed since? And what strategy is the government adopting against foreign interference ahead of the next elections in May?  

In this episode, host Giada Santana and Bucharest-based Global Focus think thank director Oana Popescu – Zamfir analyse the supermarket boycott phenomenon, and the road ahead the Romanian election.