INTERVIEW. The new faces of the parties: the changes made after the elections. USR “seems to be the most disconnected party”
Traditional parties said they understood the message given by Romanians at the ballot box and talked about change. Since then, at the PSD, PNL and UDMR, other party members have appeared in the public, who were “advanced” at national level. There were also changes in gold, which announced a new foreign policy consultant, while the USR did not make an important change. “He is ideological,” a political scientist has commented for Hotnews.
The parties change their leaders or direction when “the electoral shocks determine them to do so,” says the political scientist, who, together with Vlad Adamescu, founded the project “Politics at the minute”.
“Theoretically, PSD, PNL and UDMR have undergone major defeats (they did not enter the second round of the presidential elections and their weight in Parliament decreased). The effects are mediated
but by the phenomenon of carding. In short, the parties are still based on clientele networks and state subsidies to ensure their electoral success, ”believes Petri.
But what are the new names that the parties rely on?
PSD: Florin Manole
Florin Manole (41 years old) became the PSD spokesman after a party decision on May 26. Manole is the leader of the sector 1 branch of the PSD and is in the second term full of deputy.
Manole became the spokesman of the PSD after Lucian Romașcanu, the one who holds this position, was officially appointed member of Romania at the European Court of Accounts.
Became a deputy in 2016, on the PSD lists
He was a reference to the National Institute for Holocaust Study in Romania-Elie Wiesel, and then worked at Roma Education Fund Romania, according to his CV on the website of the Chamber of Deputies. He entered politics, in 2012, when he became a local councilor in Sector 5 in the Capital. Then he was the personal counselor of the delegated minister for social dialogue, at that time Liviu Marian Pop.
From May 2015 to December 2016, Florin Manole was also a member of the National Council for Combating Discrimination (CNCD). In 2016 he became a deputy for the first time. Ever since he became a deputy she has also offered consulting to the World Bank. Between January 2022-December 2023 he was Secretary of State in the Government of Romania.
From December 2024, Manole is in the second full term in the Romanian Parliament.
PNL: Mayor of Sector 6, brought back to public attention
After the resounding failure from last year's presidential elections, meanwhile, PNL has changed the entire leadership at national level.
In addition to Ilie Bolojan, the PNL leadership was brought, as a first vice-president, Ciprian Ciucu (47 years old). Although an old face in PNL, Ciucu had given up the position of leader of PNL Bucharest during the former Liberal leadership. With the changes at the top of the party, Ciucu was one of the important people that PNL bet.
Ciprian Ciucu is in the second term of mayor of Sector 6. He managed in the local elections in June last year to win a new term of 73% of the votes. He entered politics in 2016, when he became a general counselor of Bucharest from PNL. He resigned from office in 2019, to become president at the Agency of Civil Servants. Since October 2020, he was elected mayor of Sector 6.
The best -rated liberal in Bucharest, Ciprian Ciucu, was one of the PNL leaders who did not support the Alliance with PSD, thus arousing dissatisfaction at the top of the party. Prior to his resignation from PNL Bucharest, Ciucu avoided positioning against Nicușor Dan, in the context in which new elections were followed for the Capital City Hall.
Ciprian Ciucu is licensed in political science and has a Master at SNSPA. Before entering politics he worked in the NGO area and in the public administration, according to his CV. For example, from May 2009 to June 2016 he was director and expert in public policies at the Romanian Center for European Policies.
UDMR: A mayor in the fifth term
There were no big changes in this party, Kelemen Hunor remained the main figure. However, it appeared, in negotiations with the parties about the formation of the new government, the mayor of Sfântu Gheorghe, in the fifth term: Antal Arpad (49 years).
Antal Arpad entered politics in 2004, when he became a deputy, for a term, until 2008. Since then, he is mayor of Sfântu Gheorghe. He won the fifth term of mayor at the June 2024 elections, with almost 83% of the votes. He is also the president of UDMR Sfântu Gheorghe and president of the National Council of the local elected officials, according to the website of the political formation.
Antal Arpad was in 2016 investigated by DNA in a file on an EBRD loan. In 2019, the file was ranked.
Before entering politics, Antal Arpad was licensed in sociology at the “Babes-Bolyai” University, Cluj. For two years, from 1998 in 2000, he was a sociologist at the Covasna County Council, and from 2000 in 2004, until he became a deputy, he was an university assistant, according to an older CV of the politician.
Gold: a new “foreign policy consultant”
Remaining without one of the co -founders, Claudiu Late, the Gold Party made a move, after the presidential elections. George Simion has announced that Dan Dungaciu (56 years old) is the new “foreign policy consultant” of the party he leads.
Dan Dungaciu is a university professor at the Faculty of Sociology and Social Assistance of the University of Bucharest. He was sued by DNA, in 2024, for abuse in service, according to the court portal.
He was director, for 12 years, of the Institute of Political Sciences and International Relations “Ion Ic Brătianu” of the Romanian Academy. Dungaciu is accused of committing the crime of abuse in service, the facts taking place between 2017 and 2022, during the period when he was director of the Institute.
Presshub wrote in December 2023 that Dungaciu had the capacity of suspect in the file, and DNA investigations began after a complaint of the Court of Accounts that had previously carried out a check at the Institute. In 2022, Presshub reported that Dungaciu won two consecutive mandates at the head of the Institute, after competing alone, each time.
Dungaciu has also strongly supported gold in the parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova in 2021, according to G4Media.
USR: No new face
In the case of USR, in the last months there has not been noted any new face “at the center”. Dominic Fritz, the current interim leader of the USR, has always been involved in the activity of the party and at national level, being a member of the National Management Bureau.
How are the changes and promotions made by party
About PSD, Vlad Adamescu says that the party has “the chance to insist on some truly social-democratic measures” and this “beyond the names of those who will actually lead the party in the next period”. He also offered examples: “to reduce taxes on the poorest and taxation of properties, luxury, introduction of progressive taxation”.
As for the PNL strategy, he talks about the only direction in which the Liberals can avoid “falling to irrelevance”: obtaining the premier position for Ilie Bolojan, “at the same time, and promoting some semi-marginalized faces in local branches, such as Ciprian Ciucu”.
Vlad Adamescu believes that now USR “seems to be the most disconnected party, is ideological and has lost long after tactical mistakes with Elena Lasconi”.
The change proposed by Fritz “will not bring anything new”
“Through successive purges, USR managed to lose their credential” anti-system “(who propelled Nicușor Dan in the position of head of state), with only nine months of governance, in 2021. It remained only the hard core, the Libertarian of the party, represented by the same people, who cannot exceed the maximum of 10-15%.
For his part, Răzvan Petri says that “today there are no big differences between USR and PNL and we can expect a merger before 2028. The change to the” center “that Dominic Fritz proposes to bring will not bring anything new,” said Răzvan Petri in the dialogue.
By choosing Dungaciu, gold will continue on the same line
About the new gold counselor, the two state that it is not a surprising choice. “A pro-Russian apologet and precursor of the present sovereignism, the appointment of Dungaciu shows that nothing has changed in gold: the party will continue on the same Ukrainophobic line, slightly pro-Russian and it seems that it will maintain its positions for the legionaryism and other war criminals taken from Călin Georges. “Movement” “, says Adamescu.
The political scientist Răzvan Petri says that Gold has no reason to change his direction for the moment, even if he has lost the presidential elections.
“The disintegration of the SOS and can, the withdrawal of Georgescu and the high scores from the polls transform gold into the undisputed leader of the opposition. Thus, bringing Dan Dungaciu only that gold remains in the area of ambiguity to Russia and legionaryism,” Petri considers.
