Meanwhile, Poland is holding the first round of the presidential election, as President Andrzej Duda is stepping down due to term limits. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, a run-off between the top two will be held on 1 June 2025.

But Nicușor Dan, the independent mayor of Bucharest who scraped past his opponents to qualify for the run-off with 21 per cent, has caught up in opinion polls and is counting on the huge turnout to tip the scales in his favour.