Ioan Bartok Gurzău (left), Adrian Cozma (center) and Nicolae Cornea Mare (right), in a press conference at PNL Satu Mare, Thursday, February 12, 2026. Photo source: PortalSM
The local authorities in Beltiug and Socond communes will start next week the procedures for merging the two administrative-territorial units, according to the announcement made by the PNL Satu Mare leader, Adrian Cozma, on Thursday, in an intervention on Antena 3.
Adrian Cozma justified the approach by the “need to reduce expenses”.
“It is clear that we cannot continue to operate like this, let's roll over debts. We do not want to end up in a situation where, for example, the Socond commune, which is a commune that has no income of its own, cannot pay for its public lighting or medical services in the commune. That is why this merger is needed. Next week, concretely, the draft decisions will be submitted to the local council for unification, the announcement will be made to the Government and after that local council decisions for referendum”, said the liberal.
“It will be a commune with 6,500 inhabitants”
Beltiug commune, the name that the administrative-territorial unit resulting from the merger will bear, is led by Ioan Bartok Gurzău, from the PNL. In Socond, the mayor is Nicolea Cornea Mare, also liberal.
“We're not talking about two small communes, we're talking about two communes with over 3,000 inhabitants. The commune resulting from the unification will be a commune with 6,500 inhabitants, the second largest commune in Satu Mare county”, specified Adrian Cozma.
He said that it has not yet been “discussed who will be mayor”.
“We don't have such ambitions, we haven't discussed who will be mayor, that doesn't matter. The point is, a position of mayor disappears, a local council disappears, vice mayor, public administrator disappears, so the commune will benefit and the people will benefit from all points of view. I want to see now how the others from the other parties react”, concluded Adrian Cozma.
Ioan Bartok Gurzău (left), Adrian Cozma (center) and Nicolae Cornea Mare (right), in a press conference at PNL Satu Mare, Thursday, February 12, 2026. Photo source: Facebook
Financial problems
The local publication Portalsm.ro wrote that the discussions started a month ago, at the initiative of Adrian Cozma, given that the two municipalities say they can no longer support themselves financially.
The mayor of Socond said that the changes will only affect the management apparatus, so the officials will not lose their positions. At present, the two town halls have a total of 29 employees.
Since the Socond Secondary School has 612 students, and the one in Beltiug, 430, with the unification, the necessary threshold – of 1,000 – for the establishment of a high school in the new commune will be exceeded, the local publication notes.
