Cristian Terheș

Cristian Terheș is a Romanian politician currently serving as a Member of the European Parliament for Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party (PNȚ-CD) after being elected on the Social Democratic Party (PSD) list.

He joined the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party (PNȚ-CD) in May 2020 and then became a member of European Christian Political Movement (ECPM).

Biography

He studied theology at the Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj in Cluj-Napoca. He then studied journalism at Fullerton College and worked at Santiago Canyon College in California, USA. He settled in Irvine, California, and became a clergyman of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, but also worked as a business analyst.

He was involved in Romanian politics, especially in opposition to the ruling PSD, which he called corruption. He became famous in 2012, when he was part of the referendum campaign on the dismissal of Romanian President Traian Băsescu in the US Congress, lobbied for the president, who opposed the Social Democrats. In 2014, he opposed the election of PSD President Victor Ponta as president.

In 2016, he became a regular commentator on the Antena 3 television station affiliated with PSD and on România TV. At the same time, he became a supporter of the ruling PSD, in his public comments he supported the suspension of the liberal national president Klaus Iohannis. In the 2018 Romanian constitutional referendum, he supported a ban on gay marriage. After failure, he feared that "the gay agenda in Romania will become more violent." In 2019 he ranked fourth on the PSD list for the European Parliament and was elected a member of the European Parliament.

In May 2020, he declared his transition to the National Peasant Christian Democratic Party and the European Conservatives and Reformists group.

Terheș is known for his vocal claims and spreading misinformation about the alleged ills of COVID-19 vaccinations and pandemic-related restrictions in Romania. He used a speech in September 2021 in the European Parliament to claim that coronavirus vaccines are not safe.