Ethical reference systems in political discourses: A comparison between the messages to the population of the heads of state of France, Germany and Romania at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic

The global Covid-19 pandemic has caused a number of unprecedented actions at the political level. In order to argue the need for the extraordinary measures that restricted social life, the heads of state addressed the population through explanatory, justifying, but also mobilizing speeches. This paper analyses the speeches given to the nation in March 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, by the heads of state of three countries in the European Union: France, Germany and Romania. The main objective of the study was to identify the ethical reference systems to which the speakers appealed, and the method used was thematic discourse analysis. The study shows that the three heads of state used in their messages to the population, in a distinct way, ethical systems and frames of reference such as history, homeland, nation, European Union, humanity, democracy. The paper discusses in detail the ways in which these reference systems appear in the speeches, what aspects emphasized and eluded the speakers, as well as the similarities and differences revealed by the thematic analysis between the three discourses.