Ciprian Ciucu presented his vision for Bucharest, at an event where the only liberal present was Ilie Bolojan

The mayor of Sector 6, Ciprian Ciucu, candidate for the position of general mayor of Bucharest from the PNL, presented his plan for Bucharest on Thursday in a debate attended by, among others, Andrei Caramitru and Cristian Pîrvulescu.

In a room of the Cromwe Plaza hotel, Ciprian Ciucu presented his work to several representatives of civil society, specialists in public administration and urban policies. Only one liberal took part in the debate – Ilie Bolojan.

Also present was Dragoș Pîslaru, the Minister of European Funds, a member of the REPER party, who supports Ciucu in the race for the position of first general of the Capital.

To the 18 guests, whom he said were not supporters, but rather critics, Ciprian Ciucu presented the 57 slides of his program for the city – “Bucharest set up”.

Ciucu mentioned the projects he implemented in Sector 6, but also a series of other projects he wants to implement at the level of the Capital.

“It's the rest of the mandate, I can't promise big infrastructure projects, because I know, as mayor, how long it takes. But, in these almost 3 years, I want to bring the culture of maintenance to Bucharest”, Ciucu explained, referring to the fact that the mandate of whoever wins the elections on December 7 will end in 2028.

Bolojan, about the cubic stone in the center of the Capital: “You risk twisting it”

Ilie Bolojan mentioned that he was impressed that Ciprian Ciucu spoke about maintenance, he mentioned the attention to detail and gave an example.

“Sometimes I go to get books from Cărturesți Carusel. When you get beyond the BNR, you enter an area where if you are not careful, you risk getting a sprain, due to the fact that those little cubes have holes in them. They have already started to leave there, they are dimples, which someone should see. When you get to Oradea, you have to see what it means to have some properly placed cleaners. If you go with heels, the heel doesn't fit in. This means the work is done well, because we see the cracks, why do things not look good? I trust that Ciprian can do this.

He also told about how Ciprian Ciucu went to Oradea, at the time when the current prime minister was mayor.

“During my last term as mayor, he came to Oradea, stayed for a whole day, and after 3 years when I came to Bucharest, he called me to see what he did, in a much more complicated area. When I saw, I was pleasantly surprised, the extended boulevards, the regeneration of blocks of flats, green spaces, showed me that he seriously put into practice the things he saw”, recalled the PNL president.

After the presentation of the vision, the experts who participated in the event shared their views. Rather, they gave advice to Ciucu and thanked him for what he has done so far.

Political scientist Cristian Pârvulescu, who was Ciprian Ciucu's teacher, evaluated him on the governance side.

“I've known Ciprian Ciucu for a very long time. Now he's running for the General mayor's office and he asked me to come here and criticize him. In fact, the main problem I had listening to Ciprian Ciucu is that I understood that there are three stages in the development of the city, but I didn't understand what this city will look like. What will be the city you propose? Because today Bucharest is Tehran, it's not Paris”, Cristian Pîrvulescu reproached his former student.

The political scientist asked Ciucu how the city will look in 4, 8 or 16 years, because “you proposed a 25-year program and I'm curious how it will end”. The mayor of Sector 6 said he proposed a 10-year program, because he does not want to stay in politics for more than 10 years

“There are still many to climb, because they are to be read”, said Ciucu.

As for the criticism related to Pîrvulescu's vision, the PNL candidate explained to him that “The vision is Paris. In the sense that the city is perfected, that means. You should like living there. I said Paris for the type of policies applied in recent years. To pedestrianization, to cultural life and this is my vision.”

Asked by Ana Mocanu, executive director of the Funky Citizens NGO, about the 3 expenses that he will prioritize if he becomes general mayor, Ciucu said that the first 3 would be:

• Tramway projects;
• Radials;
• The parks.

They were invited to the event:

• Bogdan Suditu, PhD associate professor at the Faculty of Geography of the University of Bucharest
• Alex Găvan, Civic Platform Together for the Green Belt
• Răzvan Voinea, architectural historian, co-author of the Inventory of Sports Facilities
• Ana Mocanu, director of the non-governmental organization Funky Citizens
• Manuela Furdui, Romanian Business Leaders
• Andrei Caramitru, economist
• Emil Ivănescu, Order of Architects Bucharest Branch
• Cristina Guseth, director of the NGO Freedom House
• Virgil Stănescu, athlete, president of Sports Hub.
• Cristian Pârvulescu, political scientist
• Cristi Badiu, doctor
• Ținu Sebeșanu, Entrepreneur, representative of the Concordia Confederation
• Dan Bărbulescu, founding member and executive director of the Bucharest Natural Park Association
• Teodor Frolu, entrepreneur
• Vlad Radu Zamfira, global climate policy researcher and Info Clima coordinator
• Sorin Cheval, representative researcher of the National Meteorological Association
• Lecturer. Univ. Răzvan Voinea, historian and researcher, member of the East European Sport Studies Center Association
• Gratian Mihailescu, founder of UrbanizeHub
• Adelina Duță, athlete

At the end of the event, Ciucu said: “I felt much better than having a big celebration at the party.”

Presentation of the programme, on the day he was accused of manipulating the electorate with polls

An INSCOP survey for the December 7 elections in the Capital, published on Thursday, places the PNL mayor of Sector 6, Ciprian Ciucu, in first place, with 27.1% of the votes of Bucharest residents who say they are sure to go to the polls.

In second place is the PSD candidate, Daniel Băluță, followed by Anca Alexandrescu, supported by AUR and PNTCD. The USR proposal, Cătălin Drula, is behind them, by a large margin.

Cătălin Drula stated that a month ago “they told me” that “we will kill you with the polls”.

“The stake is enormous. To capture the capital for PNL-PSD. The party networks plugged into public money see a catastrophe if they lose the General City Hall. It's the strategy they applied twice to Nicușor Dan, and in 2016 with Predoiu and in 2024 with Burduja,” wrote Drula on his Facebook account.

He accuses the mayor of sector 6, the liberal candidate for the Capital City Hall, Ciprian Ciucu, of trying to manipulate the electorate with sociological research regarding next month's election.

“It's ugly that Ciprian Ciucu uses this. He, who told me so many times that the PNL tends to get confused with the State, that dirty games are played with criminal files and that he is afraid. Ciprian, not like that! That's not how the fight goes, with the means you also used in Ciucă's campaign. You have the dignity and manhood to come to a debate! Come in front of the people and leave the manipulations and arrogance”, he said Drula.