Despite his high status in Serbia, at home Bărbulescu sided with the "Germanophiles", opposing Romania's entry into the war. As early as July 1914, Iași's "Viața Romînească" hosted an essay supporting the policies of Austria-Hungary: "Greșelile curentului politic anti-austriac de la români" ("Mistakes of the Anti-Austrian Current among the Romanians"); it argued that Austria was predatory, and that the Romanians from the Duchy of Bukovina lived under comparatively liberal regime. On September 15, Bărbulescu appeared alongside Constantin Stere and Paul Bujor at a university rally which hoped to gather support for the Entente Powers. Bărbulescu sabotaged this endeavor, discussing the Central Powers as a bulwark against the "Slavic peril".