The General Mayor of the Capital, Nicușor Dan, announced that he has withdrawn the responsibilities of the PNL Deputy Mayor, Stelian Bujduveanu.
„For three years, there has been a right-wing majority in the General Council of Bucharest, consisting of PNL, USR, and PMP.
Now, PNL has decided to form another majority alongside PSD that no longer aligns with the position that Mr. PNL Deputy Mayor held."
"It is illogical for the deputy mayor to be both in opposition to the General Mayor and to work in the mayor's specialized apparatus," Nicușor Dan conveyed through a press release.
According to PMB, from the end of 2020 until today, the Deputy Mayor of the Capital, Stelian Bujduveanu, has been delegated to coordinate the following areas:
• Transportation Directorate, excluding the Auto Authorization Service
• Heritage Directorate, excluding the management of spaces with medical activity
• Investment Monitoring Directorate within the General Investment Directorate
• Education and Tourism Service within the Culture, Education, Tourism Directorate regarding the tourism aspect
• Bucharest Streets Administration
• Cemeteries and Human Crematories Administration
• Lakes, Parks, and Recreation Administration of Bucharest, regarding the municipality's heritage
• Intercommunity Development Association of the Bucharest Metropolitan Area
• Intercommunity Development Association for Public Transport Bucharest-Ilfov
• Intercommunity Development Association for Pest Control, Disinfection, and Decontamination in Bucharest
• Bucharest Ilfov Thermal Energy Intercommunity Development Association
• Bucharest Transport Company
The USR Deputy Mayor, Horia Tomescu, resigned in September 2023 and has not been replaced.
Tomescu cited personal reasons for his resignation. Party sources, however, specified to Spotmedia.ro that Tomescu clashed with the USR executive leadership, which was the reason for his withdrawal.
Ciucă's Reaction
The PNL President, Nicolae Ciucă, described Nicușor Dan's decision as absolutely childish.
"An absolutely childish decision, based on the principle of taking someone's toys away. The Capital City Hall needs coherence in its management actions, and as such, you cannot deprive a deputy mayor who is elected and has responsibilities in accordance with the law and let them do nothing. It means we are paying them to sit around," said Nicolae Ciucă at the launch of the PNL-PSD candidate for the Capital City Hall.
Ciucă believes that the Capital City's budget will be approved on Friday.
"If he has decided so, then we respect his decision. The fact is that at the PNL Bucharest branch level, it was decided to, together with the PSD Bucharest branch, have those amendments to the budget project, analyze these amendments, convene a meeting of the local Council on Friday, and the budget will be approved on Friday. It is not normal for the citizens of Bucharest to suffer because of such a decision," added the PNL leader.
PNL Accuses Nicușor Dan of Serving "Party Interests"
Shortly after Nicușor Dan announced that he is withdrawing the responsibilities of Deputy Mayor Stelian Bujduveanu, the PNL Bucharest reacted through a press release.
"With his gesture, Nicușor Dan clearly stepped out of the independent and managerial role of the Capital City Hall that he promoted so much and entered the role of a politician with party interests.
Stelian Bujduveanu is the PNL Deputy Mayor, who has had an impeccable activity for four years at the Capital City Hall, with consistent results, but suddenly his responsibilities were revoked. And this happened after Stelian Bujduveanu made proposals for a more judicious use of the funds from the Capital City's budget," the PNL press release stated.
The Liberals argue that Nicușor Dan's reason for withdrawing Bujduveanu's responsibilities – namely that he switched to the Opposition, alongside PSD – shows that the General Mayor does not understand "the importance of teamwork."
"In fact, it is about the effort to unblock the Capital City's budget, while also supporting amendments for its improvement, amendments that will be approved tomorrow, for the benefit of Bucharest residents.
We are talking about funds for heating and public transport, as requested by the PNL for over a month, and other good projects for Bucharest, such as the Ciurel breakthrough (...)," the PNL press release further stated.