Cătălin Drula, critics of Daniel Băluță, his counter-candidate for the Capital City Hall: “the fountain made by Mr. Băluță cost 6 million euros”

USR Deputy Cătălin Drula, candidate for the Capital City Hall, criticized, on Monday, in the Parliament, his opponent from PSD Daniel Băluță, after PSD, PNL and AUR blocked the adoption of an emergency procedure for the project to transpose into law last year's referendum in the Capital, called by Nicușor Dan. “The well made by Mr. Băluță cost 6 million euros. It is a reality,” Drula said, when asked about the decision in the Coalition not to have attacks between the candidates of the ruling coalition parties.

The USR candidate for Bucharest City Hall, Cătălin Drula, criticized the vote that took place in the Permanent Office of the Senate.

“Once again, this vote in the Permanent Bureau of the Senate demonstrated that these parties speak one thing and do another. I think this is also reflected in the candidates that PSD and PNL and AUR will propose, because the people of Bucharest voted overwhelmingly for this referendum,” Drula said.

“We have singing fountains worth millions of euros, but at the same time there is no money for asphalt”

He said that the transposition of the referendum into law is currently facing “a first obstacle posed by PSD, PNL and AUR”.

“This somehow shows the vision they have of the Capital, that of continuing the same system of dividing budgets into political pieces, so that we have singing fountains of millions of euros, but at the same time there is no money for asphalt, to make a pedestrian crossing. There is no money to restore the sidewalks, large boulevards or to invest in some further major projects to rehabilitate the heating network”, he accused USR deputy Cătălin Drula.

The USR candidate says that in this campaign the discussion will be about the implementation of the referendum voted by Bucharest residents or about “the same party networks that brought Bucharest into a state of pseudo-bankruptcy, into a state of financial impotence and Bucharest not reaching its potential as a European metropolis”.

“From my mouth I say (ed.: all parties) yes, yes, yes, I support the referendum. I don't know exactly how my opponents position themselves. But when it comes to facts, they don't want to do it,” Drula said.

Cătălin Drula was asked by HotNews why he submitted the bill only now, when he could have done it last parliamentary session, for example. AUR reasoned that he abstained from Monday's vote in the Senate because there is no urgency, given that the project could have been submitted by now.

“I submitted in good time so that this procedure can be applied to the new budget for 2026. The budget for 2025 has already been made for a long time, it was made last year. I discussed this legal text with the president Nicușor Dan, it was a process to develop it and I submitted it now, when we can make the budget for 2026”, said Drula.

Cătălin Drula: “I don't attack anyone”

When he was asked by journalists if the decision of the coalition is respected, that those who run from the governing parties should not attack each other, Drula said that he is not attacking anyone.

“I tell the people of Bucharest to look at what each party is doing, how they position themselves, and the fact that today in the Permanent Bureau of the Senate PSD, PNL and AUR blocked the law on the implementation of the referendum, it's a fact. It's a reality,” said the USR candidate.

“The fountain made by Mr. Băluță cost 6 million euros. It is a reality. There are realities that affect the lives of the people of Bucharest,” he said. HotNews wrote in 2023 about an artesian well for which the City Hall led by Daniel Băluță paid almost 5 million euros.

“It is no exaggeration that the boulevards are full of… that there is no money to rehabilitate, that there is no budget at the Capital City Hall. These are real things and I think we need to discuss in the context of the election campaign how we want our city to look in the future, if we want to return to the era when party networks were plugged into public money,” continued Drula.

Asked by HotNews if Daniel Băluță “sucked” companies with public money, Drula said that “it is enough to look at the investigations done by your colleagues in the press”. Asked to answer concretely with yes or no, Drula ignored the question and chose to answer another journalist.